War Between the Living and the Dead
by EchidnaPower
Summary: The war between the living and the dead has begun, and the Hyperforce has to go up against their biggest challenge yet. But with help from their allies across the galaxy, they can triumph! Or can they? This is my take on what Season 5 would've been, plugging plotholes and making sense out of a series that left us all hanging. Contains Spova, Chinmay and more(?) Read and find out...
1. Preparations

**Well, there aren't a whole lot of fans left for this particular fandom, but I am a fan, and so I'm gonna write for these guys. Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go was an amazing cartoon that had a good balance of humor, drama, action and even a pinch of romance just to keep things interesting...shame it never got finished, but I wanna give it a shot. So...here's the first chapter of Season 5...sorta.  
_ **

To say that Chiro was stressing out a little would've been the understatement of the century. To put it simply, the young leader of the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce was completely freaking out. _"How on Shuggazoom are we gonna pull _this one _off?!" _Of course no one could tell that by looking at him, on the outside he appeared to be a pillar of strength. He had to, he was the leader after all.

Despite that however, there was one member of the team that could sense Chiro's anxiety. "Chiro, I would like to speak with you privately for a moment."

Chiro turned his head away from the main viewing screen to glance at the silver monkey floating in midair. "If you say so Antauri." Chiro turned to the rest of the team, "Otto, keep working on those anti-undead weapons, we're gonna need all the help we can get until backup arrives. Nova, contact me as soon as we get some responses to our signal."

The yellow monkey gave a thumbs-up to her leader, "You got it Chiro."

With that, Chiro and Antauri left the Bridge of the Super Robot, leaving the rest of the team to continue their work. "Whaddya suppose Antauri wants?" Otto wondered out loud, the green monkey was beginning to grow concerned for Chiro as well.

Gibson, the blue monkey, gave his input. "I would speculate that Antauri wishes to try and evaluate Chiro's mental state, given the circumstances, I have to imagine that the pressure to perform would begin to affect his ability to lead."

"I hope you're wrong Gibson." that voice belonged to Jinmay, who in fact was not a monkey, but rather a very humanlike robot girl, who also happened to love Chiro with all her electronic heart. "We're gonna need Chiro more than ever now, if he's right about this being the biggest war Shuggazoom City's ever had to deal with." What Jinmay was referring to was the incoming hoard of Formless soldiers that seemed to stretch on for miles. Thanks to the now destroyed Skull Witch Valeena, the Hyperforce's archenemy Skeleton King had been risen from the dead, and was now preparing to attack Shuggazoom City with more power than he ever possessed before.

_"And it's all my fault." _there was one other monkey on the team. The red monkey, SPRX-77, otherwise known as Sprx, had been quiet almost the entire time since they'd managed to get to the Super Robot. He remembered bitterly why they were currently in the position they were in. He had succumbed to the power of the Fire of Hate, one of the key ingredients that had been necessary to resurrect Skeleton King in the first place, and he had turned on his friends and teammates...even Nova. It was no secret to anyone exactly how Sprx felt about the yellow female primate, and if how she had reacted when he regained his senses was any indication, she felt the same if not stronger about him. But thinking about that now, after what he had caused, just made him want to go crawl away and shut down for good.

"Sprx?"

The red monkey turned to see Nova looking at him with concern evident in her big pink eyes. "What's up Nova?"

"Listen, I know you're still bothered by what happened, but you can't let it destroy you!" Nova pleaded.

Sprx pasted a fake smirk onto his face and chuckled, "Heh, what? You think I'm gonna let _this _take me down? Please, I've handled _way _tougher stuff than this." Sprx walked over to his transport tube and stepped inside, "I'll be in my quarters if you need me..." he saw that the other monkeys and Jinmay still weren't convinced. "C'mon already! I'm ok, believe me!" he zipped up the transport tube, thankful they couldn't see him anymore.

"I know I'm not the smartest monkey around," Otto said after Sprx left, "But I don't think he's ok."

"He's not." Nova sighed and went back to her communications panel, "But we can't worry about Sprx right now, we've got a job to do..." Nova looked to the main viewing screen; the blips on the radar were growing ever closer, "And not a whole lot of time to do it."

Meanwhile, in Chiro's quarters, Chiro and Antauri were having their private discussion. "I'm worried about you Chiro, you've had no time to recover since before this whole situation began."

"I feel fine Antauri, _really!" _Chiro began jogging in place to prove his point, "See, ready and rarin' to kick some Formless butt!"

"Yes, clearly your _body_ is not feeling any adverse effects...yet." Chiro stopped when Antauri said that, "But I sense that your mind and spirit are beginning to strain under the pressure."

Chiro sighed and flopped onto his bed, what was the point of trying to hide anything from Antauri anyway? "Fine. You got me." Chiro sat up and held his face in his hands, "I dunno if we're gonna be able to pull this one off Antauri, we've never faced a threat this powerful before, and we're gonna have to hold down the fort until help arrives..._if _it arrives."

"I understand." Antauri replied solemnly, "Chiro, it's natural for you to be worried, but when that worry begins to affect your rational thinking, _that's _when it becomes a problem."

"So what do I do then? This situation's not going away, in fact it's getting closer every second!" Chiro's head suddenly shot up and he glared at the silver monkey, "And don't you _dare _say 'embrace the Power Primate'," he did his best impression of Antauri as he said that, "Because I'm fried from _embracing it _so much."

Antauri smirked knowingly, "Ahh, so you finally admit to yourself that you're tired._ Now _we're getting somewhere." Chiro's jaw dropped and then he scowled and turned away from his second-in-command with his arms crossed. "I was actually going to suggest that you take a nap, you'll need your strength for the upcoming battle."

"I'm tired, not _sleepy." _Chiro grumbled.

"Then why don't you go to the recreation room and do something you enjoy? There are other forms of relaxation, perhaps playing one of your mindless videogames will ease your worries."

Chiro snapped at the monkey, "They're not _mindless!" _then the Hyperforce leader realized how close he was to a nervous breakdown and took a deep breath, taking a few steps back from cracking up. "Ok Antauri...I'll find something to do...thanks." Antauri nodded and floated out of the room using the silver monkey's fazing powers, much to Chiro's annoyance, "There's nothing wrong with using the door ya know!" Then with a weary sigh, Chiro fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes, _"Maybe I _should _just embrace the Power Primate...it's never let me down before...so maybe it'll come through for me again." _he began to meditate, and the telltale green glow of the Power Primate enveloped his body as he used its influence to steady his mind.

Antauri smiled as he poked his head back out of Chiro's room, he knew his faith in Chiro was not misplaced, and sure enough the boy had proved that once more. "The Power Primate is more than just a weapon Chiro, it is also your greatest friend, if you allow it to be." Antauri then hopped back into a transport tube and found himself back on the Bridge, where Nova was still monitoring the communications station. "What's our status Nova?"

"We've gotten responses from the Sun Riders and the Robo Apes...still waiting on the others though." Nova reported, "How's Chiro?"

"Resting. Where are the others?"

"Well...Gibson went to help Otto make something he thought might help us out in a little while, Jinmay went to the training room to practice her combat skills...she said she felt she wasn't as big a help as she should've been during our last couple of battles..."

Antauri nodded solemnly, "And what of Sprx?"

Nova lowered her head, "He says he's fine..._I _think he's hiding something."

"I'm inclined to agree...do the others feel the same as you do?"

"Pretty much." Nova sighed sadly, "What're we gonna do about him Antauri? He's not gonna be much help in the fight if he can't snap outta this funk he's in!"

"True...although I have a feeling your concern runs deeper than mere battle capabilities."

Nova growled at her superior, "What's _that _supposed to mean?"

Antauri placed a robotic hand on Nova's shoulder, "You know precisely what I mean...Nova, it is one thing to conceal your emotions in order to avoid them being taken advantage of by our enemies...it is a whole other issue entirely to suppress them in order to deny their existence from ourselves."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nova turned her head and crossed her arms in denial.

"I think you do." Sensing that Nova's resolve was wavering, Antauri relinquished an understanding smile when she finally looked at him again. "Go to him Nova, I believe you are the only one who can convince Sprx that we really do need him, and that he is still an indispensable member of the Monkey Team...he feels alone, so remind him that no Monkey Team member is ever alone."

"But what about communications?"

"I'll take over here, my mind isn't so up in the clouds that I've forgotten how to work a communications console." Antauri smirked.

Nova smirked back, "Thanks Antauri." Nova scampered over to the transport tube and was whisked away into the bowels of the Super Robot seconds later. She finally made her way to Sprx's room, and he could hear him through the metal door growling and cursing at himself. "Sprx? Can I come in?" All she heard was another disgusted bark. "Looks like I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way." Activating her fists, she reeled back to punch down the door, "I'm sure Otto won't mind fixing the door...again." the door easily gave way under the yellow monkey's strength, and to her shock, Sprx still hadn't even noticed she was there. "Sprx!"

"Lousy stinkin' Formless freaks!" Sprx roared with rage as his flight simulator continued to conjure up Formless soldiers for him to blow up in his simulated Fist Rocket, when he finally finished, he threw the helmet off and chucked it against the wall, _"Still _not good enough!" he slowly turned, and then his eyes locked onto Nova, who had her hands behind her back as she stared at him, "Oh uh...hey there Nova...how long were ya standin' there?"

"Long enough." Nova walked over to the red monkey, who seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable as she got closer, "I-I came to check on you...seemed like you could use a friend right now."

"O-Oh yeah?" Sprx put on his smoothest look, "I dunno about that, maybe _you _just can't resist _my _irresistible charm."

Nova shook her head, "Now I _know _something's bothering you...that wasn't even _close _to your usual amount of corniness." She took another step, but that got Sprx to quickly turn to grab his flight simulator again, "You _know_ you busted that thing when you smashed it against the wall...Sprx, talk to me!"

"There's nothin' to talk about! I'm fine, just tryin' to get myself pumped up to fight those bone bags!"

Nova's limited supply of patience ran out, as she snarled and grabbed the red monkey by the shoulders so she could forcibly turn him around and make him look at her, "Stop lying to me Sprx! _Everyone, _even _Jinmay_ can tell that you haven't been yourself since we got back, why are you trying to shut everyone out?!" Nova flinched, she was about to open up her heart to him. "Why are you trying to shut _me _out? Please Sprx, tell me what's wrong, you're not alone! Don't act like you _are!"_

"I _can't!" _Sprx growled through his teeth and glared at her, "Don't you get it?! I almost killed you! Why don't you hate me?! You should wanna see to it that I get _shut down!_ You _all _should!" Sprx panted after his little outburst before dropping his head to stare at the ground, "It's all my fault...if I hadn't given in to the Fire of Hate, none of this would be happening, we wouldn't have to deal with Skeleton King for the third time in a single year...I wouldn't have been one step away from ripping you apart...I just...can't find it in me to forgive myself for that."

"Oh Sprx...you _still _don't get it do you?"

"Get what?" the red monkey sighed hopelessly.

"It's not all about _you!" _Nova exclaimed, "It really is amazing sometimes, you find ways to be self-centered without even trying, and yet sometimes you find ways to be the sweetest guy ever." Sprx slowly looked up at Nova with a pained look in his eyes, "I've gotten a glimpse at the _real _SPRX-77, the one hiding behind all the wisecracks and obnoxious cockiness..." Hesitantly, Nova reached up to caress the side of Sprx's furry red face, "Don't you see?" she said almost in a whisper, "All that matters is that _I _forgive you..._we _forgive you! We know you weren't in control of your own actions, and that if you could've you would've stopped the Fire of Hate from controlling you...you're not _Mandarin _Sprx...you didn't betray us, the Fire of Hate took you over against your will."

"It still doesn't feel right." Sprx exhaled shakily as his usually well-hidden more sensitive emotions began to stir, "When I saw you on the ground in front of me with your arms almost ripped out of their sockets and your helmet almost torn open...by _my _hands...dang it Nova...I just wanted to be permanently deactivated and thrown into an asteroid field...I wanted to just..." Sprx stopped suddenly, as he had been suddenly been locked into an embrace by the yellow monkey who had been listening to him rant, "N-Nova..."

"Shut up." she said as she held him tighter, "Just shut up and listen to me...don't you have any idea how _I _would feel if that happened to you? Don't you remember what I said right before we managed to snap you out of it completely?"

"Yeah...but I figured it was just a way to get me to snap out of it or something."

"In a way it was...but I meant every word...Sprx I _cried _for you! When have you ever known _me _to cry? I didn't cry when we thought Antauri was dead, I didn't cry when Antauri was _back,_ and I haven't cried for anyone else, not even Chiro! But for _you _I was crying."

"I...I..."

"What I said back there still applies Sprx..." Nova pulled back to look the red monkey dead in the eyes, "I love you too much to lose you."

Sprx was stunned to say the least. As he looked into the yellow monkey's pink eyes...he could see tears coming out of her organic eyes and they were starting to well up and leak from her robotic ones. A sight he never thought he'd see coming from the hotheaded warrior he knew as Nova. Shakily, Sprx lifted his arms to wrap them around her torso, and he closed his eyes to stop his own incoming tears from escaping, "I-I'm sorry Nova." he choked, "I'm so sorry..."

Nova held him tight to her own body, and leaned her chin on his metal-clad shoulders, "It's ok...you're not alone Sprx, no Monkey Team member is _ever _alone...you're loved here, not just by me, by _everyone _on the team. Chiro, Antauri, Gibson, Otto and Jinmay, they're all worried about you...we got rid of the hate controlling you, now _you _need to get rid of your _self_-hate, because there's no reason for it."

They sat there and just held each other for a few minutes, as Sprx finally allowed his heart to be cleansed by Nova's tender words and actions. "Thanks Nova..." he finally said after a while, "I had no idea how badly I needed something like this."

"We all need a chance to vent every once in a while, it was just your turn, that's all." Nova tilted her head to the side and smiled cutely at him, "Will you be there for _me _when it's _my _turn to vent my frustrations?"

Sprx smirked, "As long as it doesn't end in me having to go to the recovery ward."

Nova grinned, _"That's _the Sprx I know and love." Nova leaned in and kissed the red monkey's cheek, much to his shock, "Better get that flight simulator up and running again, you could use a little practice I think." she teased.

Sprx watched the yellow monkey begin to leave, still trying to process what the heck had just happened. "Hey! Just one question!" Nova looked over her shoulder to glance at the red monkey, "Are you _really _Nova? Or are you an angel from Heaven _pretending _to be Nova?"

Nova smirked and activated her giant fists, "Do you need me to beat you over the head a few times to make sure?"

Sprx shrieked and put his hands up, "No no, I'm convinced!"

Nova deactivated her powers, "There's another side to _me too_ Sprx...you just probably won't get to see it that often."

"That's too bad, I kinda like the gentle Nova...she likes me better than the tough Nova."

Nova grinned, "We're one and the same, we like you the same amount...it's just that one side shows it better than the other."

The two monkeys smirked at each other, rather pleased at how the whole conversation had turned out. But suddenly the alarms of the Super Robot began wailing at full blast as Antauri's voice came over the intercom, "Monkey Team, to the Bridge, now!"

"This is it. You ready?" Nova looked at the red monkey expectantly.

Sprx responded by activating his magnets, "Let's do this."

Moments later, the entire Hyperforce was standing on the Bridge as the seemingly endless blips on the screen grew ever closer to Shuggazoom City. "According to the scanners, Skeleton King's Formless minions are mere minutes away from reaching the city. It is time Monkey Team."

"Nova," Chiro spoke up, "Do we have any backup coming?"

"Last I checked the Sun Riders and the Robo Apes were on their way, but there's no way to know for sure how long it'll take for them to get here." Nova responded.

"We did get a response from Master Offay, he says his mind has been cleared since leaving the corrupted planet and he is prepared to lend us his assistance." Antauri spoke up.

"Excellent, hopefully we'll get more responses soon." Chiro turned his attention to Otto, "How are the anti-undead weapons coming?"

"They're ready to go Chiro! All we gotta do is zap 'em with these babies and...alaka-squasho! They're goin' down!" Otto cheered in his usual overly-excited way.

"And we also have some other surprises." Gibson stepped up, "Otto and I have decided to add a few new devices to our arsenal which will hopefully give us an extra edge against the Skeleton King and his minions."

Otto momentarily walked away and soon came back with two metal cases. "Here ya go Gibson! Hurry up and open 'em!"

Gibson cleared his throat, "Yes, thank you Otto." Gibson took the first case and opened it, revealing five microchips.

"What are those Gibson?" Chiro asked.

"These Chiro, are microchip versions of your Monkey Translator, which after many weeks of work I have finally been able to reconstruct into what you see before you." Gibson took the first microchip and placed it into the port in the back of Otto's head, "Once I install these microchips into each of our speech centers, all of our allies - even the ones who couldn't before - will be able to comprehend our advanced primate dialect, making the need for Chiro or Jinmay to act as our translators no more."

"Way to go Gibson!" Chiro exclaimed.

Gibson went around installing microchips until it was finally his turn. When that time came, Otto placed the final microchip into the blue monkey's head. "So I did it right, right?" Otto asked.

"Yes Otto, well done." Gibson then picked up the second case and presented it to Chiro, "This last surprise, we built for _you _Chiro."

"For me?" Chiro opened the case, and the boy leaped back in shock at what was inside, "Mandarin's gauntlets?!"

"No Chiro! _Your _gauntlets, built entirely from scratch based on the original design for Mandarin's weapons, custom made for your use only." Gibson reassured.

Somewhat cautiously, Chiro poked at the gauntlet and quickly pulled his hand back, "Well...it doesn't _seem _like it's gonna do anything."

"Oh for heaven's sake." Gibson sweat-dropped, "Which part of 'I built them from scratch' is eluding you?"

"Sorry Gibson," Chiro rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly, "It's just kinda unnerving to see these things again...thanks." Steeling himself, Chiro took the gauntlets and placed them onto his hands, balling his fists to get a feel for them. "So do they work like Mandarin's old ones?"

"Precisely, although I did make a few modifications to the specs of the weapons." Gibson replied. Chiro transformed the hands and immediately an energy sword and shield appeared. "As you can see I've lengthened the sword and increased the diameter of the shield to accommodate your larger size."

Chiro gingerly swung his hand-sword and raised his new shield in front of him as he tried to get a feel for his new toys, "This is pretty awesome...these should _definitely _help out."

"Your ingenuity couldn't have come through for us at a better time Gibson," Antauri spoke up, "For the time has finally come...Skeleton King's forces are about to reach the city limits."

"Then it's time for _us _to make sure they don't get any farther than that." Chiro hissed, "Nova, any last second responses?"

Nova shook her head, "No one else yet Chiro."

"Then for now the seven of us will have to be enough until what little backup we're getting arrives."

"You counted one too few Chiro!" Otto blurted.

"What?" Chiro raised an eyebrow, "There's only seven of us Otto. You, me, Antauri, Sprx, Gibson, Nova and Jinmay...who else is there?"

"You forgot to count the Super Robot!"

Chiro smiled, "Oh yeah...how could I forget the Super Robot?" Although the Hyperforce couldn't tell from inside, the Robot's eyes had narrowed in determination, even as normally inanimate as it was, it still had the awareness to know that it was in for the fight of the century.

"Alright then team," one last glance at the screen showed that Skeleton King's army had reached the city limits, there was no more time to wait. "This is it, it's time we mobilized...Hyperforce...GO!"  
_

**A/N: So as you can see I made a slight change to the end of the final episode, made it more believable how the first huge battle would begin. Allies don't just come out of thin air, so I changed that. Also, there's a little more anguish inside of Sprx now, after all, what he did was horrible...unintentional, but horrible. Sprx seems like the kind of monkey that would hold a grudge against himself...certain things can't just be shrugged off that easily. Chiro's new weapons...look I liked Chiro having those things, but it's not like he'll start relying on them or anything, they're just a nice luxury to have. And the microchips...I needed a way to rig it that everyone would understand the monkeys, so there ya go. Should I keep it going? I have great ideas. If there are any other fans out there, please review, and let me know if you want me to continue.**


	2. Call For Help Answered

**Well, I was honestly expecting not to get any reviews at all for this story, so I'd say 3 is an excellent start. Hopefully as I continue to update over time, the attention this story gets will grow. I've been watching a lot of this show lately, wishing that Season 5 or at least a series finale had happened where they won. But it didn't, so that's why I'm doing this. I even have the ending already planned out, but it's up to you to figure out what I have in mind. But we've only just begun, don't even think about that yet. Here is the second chapter of this new project of mine.  
**_

It definitely was not a pretty sight. The sky itself seemed to recognize the gravity of the situation, and had darkened with angry grey clouds to accommodate the tense atmosphere, lightning would strike periodically and the accompanying thunder was near deafening, but for some reason these clouds would not rain...it was as if nature was trying to play some sick game by making an atmosphere that was fitting for the occasion.

Not that the weather was any real concern for the eight protectors of the city, they had bigger problems. "There they are." Chiro and the Hyperforce were standing at the edge of the bridge leading to Shuggazoom City, their Super Robot standing tall behind them. "There's thousands of 'em..."

Antauri activated the Silver Monkey's super vision and got a closer look at the incoming army, "These Formless minions seem to have been reconstructed to more closely resemble Skeleton King's new incarnation..." It was true, the Formless soldiers they were used to were simply black and white sacks of goo molded into skeleton shapes, but these new Formless were different. These creatures appeared to be made of actual bone, with their skulls acting as their faces and dark armor to go with their new swords. Even then however, the Skeleton King had also created some more familiar Formless to join the already huge army, such as the slug creatures that had attacked the city before the Dark One Worm had been born. "Team, I sense that this will be the most difficult challenge we've ever faced to date until help arrives. I would advise caution."

"No way!" Nova spat, "We can't afford to be careful anymore! At this point we either go big or go home!"

"I'm with Nova!" Sprx chimed in, "This is the big one, if we can't stop 'em with everything we got, then we're not _gonna _stop 'em!"

"I'm inclined to agree with Antauri," Gibson reasoned, "Logic dictates that we pace ourselves to ensure we don't drain our energy reserves in case an even _larger _threat presents itself after the first wave."

"Chiro?" Antauri asked expectantly.

Chiro looked straight ahead at the first Formless that was about to come into range, "We see what they're made of first! If we can beat 'em easy, then save the more powerful moves for more powerful opponents!" Finally the Formless began their attack and charged towards them, "This is it! Hyperforce GO!"

Immediately the clash began as Formless minions started falling left and right under the barrage of attacks being sent their way.

"MAGNA-BOLT BEAM SPLITTER!"

"LASER LANCE DRILL!"

"WHIRLING DESTRUCTO SAWS!"

Sprx, Gibson and Otto attacked as a unit, taking care of over two-dozen Formless with their first attacks. "Antauri was right!" Gibson shouted as he fired again, "These Formless are nothing more than your regular garden variety Formless minions made to look more like Skeleton King!"

"Good! Then this should be a piece of cake!" Otto sliced two more Formless in half and managed to dodge the swinging swords of three others before launching his next attack. "SCRITCH-SCRATCH DOOM THROWER!" Four more Formless fell under the sparks generated by Otto's saws, but then a larger Formless managed to get in a good slash and send Otto flying into Gibson.

"Cake huh?" Sprx growled and gained altitude, "Let's see just how many of you bone bags I can take down! MAGNO-BALL BLAZER!" Sprx hurled a ball of magnetic energy down towards the large Formless that had attacked Otto, and the power of the sphere caused all of the swords held by the surrounding Formless to slice through several other Formless to reach the source of the magnetism. "That's more like it."

Meanwhile, Nova and Jinmay had been surrounded by a large horde of Formless all carrying maces. "There sure are a lot of 'em." Jinmay stated.

"Obvious much?" Nova smirked, "It's quality versus quantity Jinmay, think you can keep up?"

Jinmay's eyes began to glow as she warmed up her lasers, "I didn't go through all that training just to throw in the towel, let's show 'em some girl power!"

Nova nodded and banged her giant fists together, "FLAME FIST FURY!" the yellow monkey's fist launched a blazing stream of fire just as Jinmay unleashed her eye beams, widening the gap between them and the Formless army as the soldiers began to fall under the girls' might. "Alright, let's keep it going!"

Unfortunately for Chiro and Antauri, they had been pinned down by some of the more powerful monsters, and they weren't having nearly as easy a time defeating their adversaries. "I don't like this Antauri." Chiro dodged a giant fist and answered back with his own, slightly knocking his current opponent back.

"It's clear that Skeleton King sees us_ and_ the Super Robot as the biggest threats." Antauri replied as he slashed one of the smaller Formless that had slipped through in half.

"So _we _get to deal with the _really _hard stuff." Chiro huffed, "Terrific." As the monsters began to close in on the two fighters, they were suddenly saved by two plasma blasts that had come from above. "At least the Super Robot's got our backs!"

The robot was indeed doing its best to help them, but it was being attacked by a giant Formless that had been created by hundreds of smaller variety Formless, very similar to the ones that had attacked it months ago before the Dark One's unleashing, and it was having some difficulty defending both itself _and _the Hyperforce below. Finally it managed to get off a really good swing that punched a hole through the gigantic Formless monster, but it was merely replaced by three more of the same variety.

"The Super Robot's in trouble!" Otto shouted through their two-way radios. Before the green monkey could even take off to try and help, he was attacked by another larger Formless.

"Otto!" Sprx was next, "Gahhh!"

Now it was only Gibson left, "Oh drat." Gibson spun like a top and managed to make a dent in the oncoming hoard with his laser drills, but there were simply too many for the blue monkey to handle. "There's too many! We need help here!" but then Gibson was also struck down, "AAAAAHHH!"

"Antauri, they need help! _I'll _take these freaks on!" Chiro put his hands together and pushed forward, "MONKEY FU!" The beam of pure Power Primate energy managed to disintegrate the goo-based Formless blocking their path, "Go Antauri!"

Antauri nodded and activated the Silver Monkey's Ghost mode, if he was gonna abandon Chiro, then he would make sure to take down as many Formless as he could on his way to his destination. Antauri took off low and fast, slicing through Formless in a straight line on his way to assist Sprx, Otto and Gibson. "Nova, Jinmay, break off your attack and assist Chiro! _I'm _going after the others!"

"Got it Antauri!" Jinmay responded, "You heard him Nova! Chiro needs us!" the two girls took off into the sky and found Chiro getting bounced around by four Formless each three times his size.

"Hang on Chiro!" Nova swooped down to attack, "BOOM BOOM WAKEUP!" the yellow monkey bashed a Formless before it could hit her leader again, which sent it flying into another Formless, destroying them both.

Jinmay then added her own contribution by launching missiles out of her fingers, effectively giving Chiro some breathing room, "Miss me?" the robot girl winked.

"I always miss you when you're not around." Chiro replied, "We're not doing so good are we?"

Jinmay frowned, "I wanna say we're fine, but it feels like we've trashed more than a thousand of these things and we're not even close to halfway done!"

"We can't give up, if we even let up for a second, the city's history!" Chiro fired Monkey Fu again just as Jinmay unleashed her lasers again.

"Chiro look!" Nova shouted.

Chiro looked up and saw that the Super Robot was ready to collapse, it had been doing its best to take on an ever-increasing number of giant Formless, and it had finally been overwhelmed. "Oh no!" Chiro shouted into his radio, "Antauri, you gotta hurry and get to Otto! It's time to put the anti-undead weapons to the test!" Chiro then turned to his teammates, "Nova, Jinmay, we gotta try and help the Super Robot!"

The two girls nodded at their leader and took off flying with him, and once they got there they began flying circles around the now somewhat irritated giant Formless monsters. "Chiro, I have an idea!" Jinmay shouted.

Chiro nodded and flew over to Jinmay, and the robot girl grabbed him by his legs and spun to gain momentum before hurling him towards the biggest Formless. "You're goin' down slime ball!" Chiro activated his new sword and shield and shifted his body so that it was shaped like a spear, and he sliced through the Formless's head and came out the other side, making the monster give an ear-piercing cry before exploding back into lifeless goo. "Great idea Jinmay! What do you call that move?"

"Hmm...how about the 'Energy Sword Impale'?"

Chiro shrugged, "Not bad, but we can come back to this later!" Chiro looked up and saw a giant fist headed towards his girlfriend, "Jinmay, look out!" Jinmay turned around a moment too late however as she was slammed down into the ground by the huge Formless. "That _does it!" _Chiro reached deep into his soul and unleashed his Inner Primate with a rage-filled battle cry. "MONKEY MIND SCREAM!" Chiro unleashed his full wrath on the hoard of giant Formless, and the energy of the attack disintegrated the remaining giant Formless. "Nova! Help Jinmay!"

"I'm on it Chiro!" Nova flew down to the downed robot girl, "Jinmay, you alright?"

Jinmay slowly struggled to her feet, holding her arm which was sparking, "I can't move my arm...it feels like some of the transmitters controlling my arm have been jarred loose." she snarled.

"Don't worry, we'll get you to the robot and Gibson'll fix you up good as new!"

Jinmay looked and saw all the Formless coming, "Forget it! I still have _one _working arm!"

"No Jinmay!" Nova reached out to stop the robot girl from flying off, but it was too late, the armored girl had already taken off. "Aww great!"

"MONKEY MIND SCREAM!" Antauri managed to make some space with his attack, and using the extendable arms inside the Silver Monkey, he was able to pull his three downed teammates out of danger for the moment, "Wake up Monkey Team, we need your help!"

Sprx, Gibson and Otto slowly regained their consciousness, "Ugh...are we winning?" Otto groaned.

"Not at the moment, but perhaps we can change that, it's time to test out those anti-undead weapons you made!"

Antauri's statement woke Otto up completely, "Alright!" Otto broke free of the Silver Monkey's robotic arm and pulled out two blasters, "One shot...and..." Otto fired several bursts of energy, and with one strike several Formless disintegrated. "Alaka-squasho! They worked!"

"Excellent work Otto!" Gibson complimented, "If you'll permit me." Otto nodded and handed Gibson a blaster, and the blue monkey took a part from the gun and installed it into his laser drill, "There we are! Now let's show them what science can do!"

"You got it Gibson! Yahooooo!"

With Gibson and Otto destroying Formless with their anti-undead weapons, Antauri joined up with Sprx. "This battle's taking _forever _Antauri!"

The red monkey was clearly getting demoralized, after over twenty minutes of fighting they'd managed to take down an innumerable amount of Formless, and yet there was still an even greater number of Formless to go. "Do not lose hope Sprx," Antauri closed his eyes a moment, "I sense that help is on its way."

"Yeah, great, in the meantime we'll just keep trying to make a dent in this endless army of bone bags." Sprx shrugged.

"If that's what it takes."

Sprx sighed and fired yet another blast from his magnets, "The life of a superhero."

Back with Jinmay, the girl was fighting off her arm's malfunction as she kept firing her eye beams. Getting more altitude to try and get a better advantage, she looked into the distance and saw something that made her robotic heart stop, "It can't be!" Using her robot vision to zoom in, Jinmay gasped in horror when she confirmed what she thought she had seen, "Jinmay to Hyperforce, come in Hyperforce!"

"Nova here!" the yellow monkey chimed in, "Jinmay, are you ok?!"

"I'm holding up fine, but we got _big _trouble coming!"

Now Chiro joined the conversation, "Define big Jinmay, the Super Robot's busy keeping any stray Formless from reaching the city!"

"How about..._Skeleton King _big?"

The whole monkey team screeched at that, "Jinmay, are you sure?!" Gibson exclaimed.

"Unless my eyes are malfunctioning too, that's Skeleton King coming this way!"

"Wait, _too?!" _Chiro gasped, "What happened to you?! Nova, I_ told you_ to help her!"

"But I..."

Nova was cut off by Jinmay, "Don't blame her Chiro, I took off on my own; as long as I can still fight, I want in."

"Then consider yourself out of commission..._permanently."_

Jinmay's circuits grew cold as she slowly turned around, and sure enough there was the resurrected Skeleton King with the evil Mandarin perched on his shoulder. "Skeleton King...but...how did you..."

"You were originally meant to _destroy _the Hyperforce, but you decided instead to embrace cheap sentimentality and _help _them instead...how unfortunate." the Skeleton King raised his staff and charged an attack, "If only your precious Chiro could be here to witness this."

"He _is!"_ Chiro stood there with a dark scowl, "Let her go!"

Skeleton King chortled evilly, "You are a fool to love her Chosen One...how can you love a machine? A machine who will never be able to give you the things that a human woman could...why do you cling to this toy when you could have the real thing?"

"I'm not playing this game Skeleton King, I've dealt with you enough times to know that you're a master at messing with people's thoughts with mind games...but that only works if your opponent plays too...and guess what? It's _game over!" _With a primal roar, the Inner Primate manifested itself around Chiro once more, and the Hyperforce leader growled fiercely at the evil king, "Last chance..._let...her...go."_

"Oh Chiro, you will soon realize that whether you play or not, I will _always _find a way to make you lose the game." Skeleton King nonchalantly dropped the robot girl and aimed his staff at Chiro, "Now, it's time to put an end to this match." the monster fired, but Chiro was able to dodge the dark beam.

"You missed!"

"Did I?"

Chiro gasped and turned around, and sure enough there were even more Formless being created, some even larger than the Super Robot itself, "No..."

"You can end this pointless war Chiro, you are only delaying the inevitable by resisting my forces. Surrender yourself and your monkeys to me now, and I will give you all a swift death instead of making you watch as I lay waste to Shuggazoom City."

"No!" Jinmay aimed her working arm towards the Skeleton King to fire her missiles, but then Mandarin leaped off the king's shoulder and kicked her down.

"Even with me having only one hand you _still _cannot best me! I was not considered the greatest of the monkeys for no reason you know!" Mandarin cackled.

"I dunno _what _you are," Jinmay spat, "But you're _not _one of the monkeys." Jinmay fired her eye beams, but Mandarin easily dodged and got ready to attack again. Luckily for Jinmay however, Chiro managed to swing the Inner Primate's energy arm so that he sent Mandarin flying away.

But with a wave of his hand, the Skeleton King utilized his mental powers to easily bring Mandarin back and perch him back on his shoulder, "I grow weary of this." Skeleton King raised his hand, and the Inner Primate suddenly vanished as Chiro was brought to the monster. "You will now suffer my unending wrath, as so many others have before."

"Leave him alone!"

That declaration brought the Skeleton King's attention back to Jinmay, and the evil king brought the robot girl to him as well. "How fitting...the Chosen One and his pretend lover will perish together." Skeleton King began to close his hand, and the invisible pressure that was squeezing the two Hyperforce members began to build, and they began to feel the life being choked out of them. "I will destroy the girl first, leaving _you_ Chiro, just within an inch of your life to watch as everything you ever cared about slowly succumbs to my power."

Jinmay screamed as her internal workings began to scrape against each other, causing immense pain for the robot girl. "Chiro..." she finally choked, "I'm sorry..."

"No!"

Skeleton King looked up to see a cloaked figure flying towards him, and the evil king was knocked to the ground by the unknown being, causing him to drop Chiro and the now powered down robot girl to the ground. "Who dares?!"

The being stood up and removed the hood it was wearing, revealing its identity, "You will not destroy these children evil one, not as long as I'm standing." Easily recognizable by his long white whiskers and his pale grey skin, Chiro and Jinmay's savior couldn't have been a more welcome sight to the leader of the Hyperforce.

"Master Offay!"

"Yes Chiro, now go and take care of _her, I _will take care of Skeleton King!"

"You believe you are worthy to even speak the master's name?" Mandarin hissed, "I will teach you respect!" Mandarin leaped for the old man, but Offay easily deflected the attack and redirected it so that Mandarin hit the Skeleton King in the face instead, "Master! P-Please, forgive me!"

Skeleton King threw Mandarin off to the side and stood back up, "You know not what you're getting yourself into old man."

"Oh no?" Offay got into a fighting stance and stared the embodied skull down, "I think I have a pretty good idea." he then turned his attention back to Chiro, "Well what are you waiting for you nitwit?! Get her out of here!"

Shaking off the shock of seeing Mandarin so easily repelled, Chiro nodded and scooped up the currently lifeless robot girl and took off towards the Super Robot. "Antauri, help has arrived!"

"I sensed it too Chiro," Antauri replied through the radio, "I am currently en route to assist Master Offay, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine...but Jinmay..." Chiro looked down at the crushed robot girl in his arms and choked back a sob, "Jinmay..."

"Say no more Chiro, just get her safely to the robot, I believe _this _battle is about to end." Antauri then changed frequencies, "This is Antauri, are you in position?"

"Yes, and may I say that we are honored by this opportunity to once again fight alongside the Monkey Team."

"The honor is ours. Now go!"

Suddenly a giant ape-shaped spaceship descended from above, crushing one of the larger Formless and several smaller ones when it landed. A hatch opened up, and out marched a veritable army of grey robo-apes, with their yellow leader in front. "The Monkey Team has entrusted us with a great task, let us not fail them! Robo-Apes, attack!"

What seemed like a hundred Robo-Apes came rushing out of the ship howling at the top of their robotic lungs, and almost immediately the number of Formless soldiers seemed to take a significant drop. _"Now _we're talkin'!" Sprx exclaimed, "It's about time the odds got evened up a little!"

Gibson, Nova and Otto then appeared and flanked either side of the red primate, "We're not out of the woods yet, we still have a few more of the _extra large_ variety of Formless to deal with." Gibson said.

"Uh...guys?" Otto looked into the sky, "We got more company."

The other three monkeys also looked up, and noticed another similar looking robot descending upon the city. "That design looks sorta familiar." Nova noted. Once the giant robot landed, the monkeys got a pretty clear idea of who was driving it. "It's the Sun Riders!"

"Excellent! Now we'll _really _be able to shed some _light _on this situation!" Gibson expected a laugh, but Sprx, Nova and Otto didn't seem impressed, "You know what? Clearly my advanced sense of humor is wasted on you three."

"I got the joke...I just didn't think it was that funny." Otto shrugged shamefully.

"If it's any consolation," a sultry voice spoke up, "We thought it was rather clever."

Johnny Sunspot and Aurora Six leaped down from the obviously upgraded Nebutron, as it was now much more than simply an orange and white striped orb with legs. This new version of the Sun Rider battle robot was much bigger, approximately the same size as the Super Robot, and while the legs were designed the same except for the larger size, the most obvious change was in the fact that it now had arms, a neck and a head that was shaped like the helmet that Super Quasar, the Sun Riders Commander, normally wore.

"Meet the Nebutron 9! We went _all out _for _this _project, now we got ourselves an honest-to-goodness Super Robot just like you chimps!" Johnny boasted.

Gibson cleared his throat, "Yes, it's certainly quite impressive, but just to be clear, we are _not _chimpanzees, we are _monkeys."_

The boy genius shrugged dismissively, "Like it matters. The point is, now that _we're _here, _your _robot is finally gonna get some decent backup." Johnny spoke into an apparently new communicator watch, "Hey Quasar, you got the robot on autopilot yet?"

"Almost!" the leader of the Sun Riders pressed one final button, and then he jumped down to the ground and landed on one knee just as the Nebutron 9 began to stomp off to help the Hyperforce Super Robot. "We received your transmission my primate friends," Quasar bowed, "We are honored by your request for our assistance."

Johnny scoffed, "Don't be so dramatic, _we're _heroes too, we're _supposed _to back each other up."

"Then let's stop wasting time," Aurora reached for her Sun Gun, "And start backing them up! SUN GUN DAZZLE STUN!" the beautiful woman's blaster fired multiple beams of solar energy, destroying one Formless for each time the gun was fired. She took a moment to wink at Sprx, who in the past had shown his obvious infatuation with her, "Pretty good, wouldn't you say?"

"Not bad," Sprx glanced at Nova who was obviously displeased with Aurora's flirting, "But I got my eyes on someone else now." Sprx took off along with the rest of the monkeys, leaving a stunned Aurora Six behind with her own teammates.

"You must be losing your touch Aurora," Johnny joked as he disintegrated two more Formless with the Black Hole Generators in his gloves, "The red chimp's not impressed anymore."

Despite the obvious teasing put down by Johnny, Aurora found herself smiling. "The only way he could've resisted _me, _is if he finally did something about his _true _feelings."

"Whatever." Johnny rolled his eyes and looked out at the still numerous amount of Formless slowly approaching them from all angles. "Whaddya say we end this whole thing right now?"

"I agree, let us finish this quickly and allow the Hyperforce to regroup!" Quasar grabbed hands with his teammates and together they formed a circle. "Be certain that we do not hit any of our allies with this attack! Focus on the evil ones only!"

"SUPER SOLAR STRIKE!" With a bright flash of light, a solar flare erupted from the team's circle and stretched out in every direction, destroying almost every remaining smaller Formless in the immediate area.

"That takes care of _these _guys! Now let's help out those giant monkeys with the _rest _of 'em!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Um, Johnny...those aren't monkeys." Aurora pointed out.

The boy genius glared up at the voluptuous woman, "Does it _look _like I care?"

Aurora simply giggled and ran forward with her Sun Gun vaporizing every Formless she could get a bead on, "You boys coming or what?!"

Johnny growled with his fists clenched, "Why does she have to be so annoying?!"

Quasar simply laughed, "Would she be Aurora if she were different?"

Johnny huffed in submission, "No, I guess not." he grumbled.

"Exactly. Now, we have Formless creatures to defeat! SOLAR HELMET HOT SHOT!"

"BLACK HOLE BARRAGE!"

Meanwhile, Antauri was squaring off against Mandarin while Master Offay and Skeleton King traded blows. "You honestly believe that you can defeat me? You're nothing more than an old man who's too senile to realize his time has passed!" Skeleton King swung his staff at the old master, who merely redirected the staff's trajectory with a downward block.

"As a wise person once said, 'A still spirit can conquer anything...and that includes _you'." _

"Quoting _yourself_, how utterly typical for an ancient master who's clinging on to past glory."

Offay grinned, "Shows what _you _know, I was quoting my young student Chiro!" Offay leaped up and kicked the Skeleton King in the face, causing him to stumble backwards into Mandarin, who was having almost no luck against the power of the Silver Monkey. "Take a good look evil one, see that your army has been whittled down to nothing."

Suddenly several more fighters appeared behind Offay and Antauri, all glaring furiously at the two malevolent monsters. "It's over Skeleton King, your time in a second life has thankfully come to a swift end." Antauri snarled.

"Anti-undead weapons fire!" Otto unleashed a barrage of lasers at the Skeleton King, but the resurrected master of evil spun his staff and deflected them away, "Well that didn't work."

Skeleton King looked around at the warriors facing him, and chortled evilly at the absence of two particular members of the good army. "This battle may be over, but the war has barely begun." With an evil cackle, Skeleton King slammed his staff into the ground and sent waves of dark energy towards the heroes that sent them flying backwards.

They quickly recovered, but they found that Skeleton King and Mandarin had both vanished into thin air. "Then we'll be ready for ya." Sprx said almost to himself.

Antauri then turned to his new allies, "I wish to thank you all for answering our call for help, we couldn't have succeeded without every one of your contributions."

"It is our honor, Antauri-san." Quasar said with a bow, "By the way, where is Chiro-san?"

The absence of Chiro reminded the team of what had happened in the battle, "Gibson, Otto, get to the Super Robot, Chiro needs you." Antauri ordered grimly.

"Acknowledged." Gibson nodded and took off, but not before grabbing Johnny under the arms.

"Hey! Put me down ya lousy chimp!"

"You're coming with us, since you're the one who creates all the Sun Rider weaponry, your assistance will be indispensable for this project." Gibson replied, ignoring the chimp comment for once.

"Do ya think she's ok Gibson?" Otto asked worriedly.

Gibson lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut, "We'll know soon enough."

Meanwhile, the Skeleton King had just arrived in his recently formed Fortress within the Pit of Doom he had forced the citizens of Shuggazoom to dig for him almost an entire year ago. The evil lord was simply chortling to himself, much to the confusion of the orange monkey clone beside him. "I do not understand my lord, why are you not enraged by this defeat?!"

"Defeat?" Skeleton King chortled again, "Oh no Mandarin, this was no defeat, today was a resounding victory for the forces of evil."

"I don't understand, we were driven off, and the Hyperforce now has more allies than ever!"

"And _that _is where the boy made a grave mistake. He may _think _he's evened the odds by bringing in allies from across the galaxy...but he has only opened the door for me to manipulate his new teammates in ways he'll never see coming...even now, I have planted a seed of doubt within not only the robot girl, but in Chiro as well...as this war drags on, I will continue to plant and cultivate more seeds within their ranks, and soon enough they will find themselves falling apart at the seams."

"But why bother master? Why not just destroy them now?"

"Because it is not enough to simply defeat them Mandarin...those filthy primates and their boy have been thorns in my side for far too long. I want to watch them _suffer_ before taking control of their world, and what better way to do it than to cause turmoil in their hearts by using these new personalities on their side to my advantage?" Skeleton King chortled once again, "Prepare yourself Chiro, there is more than _one _form of warfare."  
_

**A/N: I dunno, writing action isn't my forte, I'm more of a dialogue writer. I hope the action I tried to make was acceptable, the drama and suspense I thought I did an ok job with...but that's up to you viewers to decide. As you can also see, I haven't introduced everyone just yet, but I did bring in the ones who would've been the biggest helps in the first battle against Skeleton King and his army. The Robo-Ape army is there to make sure Skeleton King can't just send out a hoard of monsters and overwhelm them, the Nebutron 9 is now a for real super robot, so giant monsters will have a harder time in their attacks, and Master Offay is strong enough to be able to hold off Skeleton King. Not only that, more reinforcements should be on their way, so they Hyperforce should feel pretty good about their chances right now...or should they? Find out next time...also, review please.**


	3. Issues, Introductions and Ideas

**Next chapter up, writing these is actually pretty easy and gets done quickly because I already have most of the aspects in my head already. A couple of twists come to me every once in a while, a couple of them came to me in this chapter alone. Let's see if you can spot them. As a disclaimer which I think I forgot to add earlier, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go does not belong to me. If it did, Jinmay would've been a more important character and been in WAY more episodes, they could've done so much with her and they missed the boat on those opportunities so many times. Anyway, next chapter.  
_**

_"Why...why does this keep happening?" _Chiro was pacing back and forth outside Gibson's workshop, as his blue and green monkeys along with Johnny Sunspot did their best to repair Jinmay's broken body. He wasn't expecting Johnny to come with them, but apparently Gibson had insisted that Johnny use his mechanical expertise to help things along. It was just as well, he supposed. He just hoped that the monkeys would be able to get along with the sometimes obnoxious young member of the Sun Riders. After all, Jinmay's life was hanging in the balance. _"Jinmay...this shouldn't be happening...it's almost as if Skeleton King's trying to take her out just to mess with _me!" Chiro wondered why the thought had never occurred to him before. Looking back, it seemed that every time Jinmay was in danger somehow, his decision making skills took a major hit...one thing was for sure, he had a big decision to make.

"Chiro?" Chiro turned to see Nova looking up at him worriedly, "Are you ok?"

Chiro made an attempt to smile reassuringly at the yellow simian, but he found that he couldn't summon more than a neutral expression, which definitely wouldn't get by Nova. It was truth time. "No Nova...I'm _not _ok...because _Jinmay's _not ok." Chiro looked up at nothing, "I'm starting to regret letting her join the Hyperforce...it's only made her an even bigger target than ever."

Nova placed a metallic hand on Chiro's shoulder, and her leader looked back at her with sorrowful eyes, "I understand how you feel Chiro."

Chiro looked away again and slumped considerably, "How? How could _you _know?"

"That terrible feeling you get when the one you love is in trouble, when you think it's possible you may lose them forever?" Chiro looked at her with a shocked expression, "Don't act so surprised, I've had to deal with this sort of thing more than you may think."

"You mean...when Sprx was possessed by the Fire of Hate...all that stuff you said was real?"

Nova flinched, she didn't really come to talk about her own love life, or the lack thereof. But maybe Chiro needed the talk from someone who understood what he was going through. "You can't tell anyone Chiro, not even Antauri."

Chiro finally found it in him to smirk, "Knowing Antauri, he already knows everything."

Nova found herself grinning sheepishly, "Actually...he does."

Chiro let loose a laugh, a laugh that felt great coming out of his mouth. "Thanks for comin' to talk to me Nova."

"It's no problem." Nova winked, "I really just came by to tell you that we got a message from Quint, he's on his way to help out however he can."

At the mention of their allies, Chiro's face grew serious once more, "I guess I should get out there, I'm still the leader of the Hyperforce, I can't go to pieces every time Jinmay..." he gulped to try and keep his composure, "Goes to pieces..."

"I _also _came by to pass along a message from Antauri. He said to not worry about talking to our new allies right now, thanks to Gibson's microchips, he can act as leader until you feel you're ready."

Chiro relinquished a smile, "Same old Antauri...I dunno what I'd do without him."

"Neither do I...we all probably would've torn each other apart a long time ago."

The two friends laughed a little, but then suddenly Gibson came out of his workshop and the open door revealed the sounds of heavy machinery being used. "I have good news and bad news." he said with a neutral expression.

Chiro and Nova looked at each other with worry, "What's the _bad _news?" Nova asked.

Gibson sighed, "The bad news is that the control mechanism that controls Jinmay's battle mode is completely shot, no hope of repair whatsoever."

"Just what does that mean?" Chiro asked desperately.

"To put it simply, unless I can find a way to rework some of the wiring, Jinmay will remain stuck in battle mode until I can find a replacement for the mechanism...and I haven't yet calculated what the odds are of finding such a unique piece of machinery."

Chiro looked like he was ready to cry, "What do you mean the odds? It's just one gear, one wire, one whatever! There's _gotta _be _something _out there that would do it!"

"Chiro you must try to understand, Jinmay's wiring and inner workings are so incredibly complex that even _I _was unsure of how to go about her repairs the _first _time around." Gibson began pacing the floor, "I mean for her to have human hair that actually grows naturally but that still transforms into metal when she's in battle mode, to be completely machine without even an organic origin but still have a desire, and more than that, a _need _for human sustenance that she digests like humans, she has human skin that replaces dead cells with new ones and gives off warmth just as your does, and yet her body is nothing but metal underneath...if I hadn't seen her with my own eyes, I would say it's _impossible _for her to exist."

"So what are you saying Gibson? That there's no way you can fix her?" Nova asked.

"I'll have to spend a lot more time trying to figure her out...Jinmay truly is a remarkable piece of machinery."

"Stop talking about her like she's just a thing!" Chiro suddenly snarled much to Gibson and Nova's shock, "She's as human as anyone else around here, and she deserves to be treated that way even if she isn't here!"

Gibson stammered as he backed up nervously, "I - uh - I never meant..."

"Chiro, it isn't Gibson's fault!" Nova pleaded with her leader.

Chiro snapped his eyes shut to hold back his tears, "You said you had _good _news?" he said lowly with his fists shaking at his sides.

"Yes, well..." Gibson cleared his throat to regain his composure, "The good news is that with the exception of her transforming mechanism, Jinmay should be fully repaired and reactivated within mere minutes...I was worried for her arm momentarily, but Otto managed to get it working again like new."

Just then Otto and Johnny came out, wiping their hands off with washcloths, "Well, we're done." Otto sighed.

"And?" Chiro asked.

"I gotta say Chiro, your girlfriend's a real piece of work, I've never seen anything like her." Johnny said sincerely.

"So I keep hearing." the Hyperforce leader was having a hard time keeping his voice level, "Is she back online yet?"

"We thought you'd wanna be there for that part." Otto replied.

"I do." Chiro walked past everyone and almost went into the workshop, but then he stopped and turned to face the others with a remorseful look on his face, "I'm sorry everyone...I'm just under a lot of stress right now...if any of you need anything, go talk to Antauri, I'm not feeling like much of a leader right now." With that, Chiro entered the workshop and closed the hatch behind him, leaving everyone else locked out.

"He _really _loves that robot, doesn't he?" Johnny said in awe.

"I dare say more than any of us will ever truly know." Gibson replied, "Otto, finding that part for Jinmay is our top priority until further notice, we'll begin immediately."

"You got it Gibson, I'll start by looking in my junk drawer!"

"No Otto, that's not what I..." Gibson stopped as Otto had already scampered off, "Meant..." the blue primate exhaled in exasperation, "Very well..._I _shall begin the search by looking into any possible substitute solutions, since the part we need is so unique in almost every way."

"Well since you're gonna do that I'd say _my _work here is done." Johnny walked off to join his team, "Gotta admit though...those chimps sure know their stuff." he said to himself.

"I don't think I like him any better as a _good _guy." Nova scoffed once the Sun Rider was out of earshot.

"Really? _I _speculated that it would be _Aurora Six _that you'd have the most substantial disagreement with, since she and Sprx..." Gibson suddenly found himself facing a snarling yellow monkey, so he quickly put his hands up defensively and backed up, "I...think I'll just go begin the search for Jinmay's part."

"You do that." Nova hissed back. Gibson quickly ran off on all fours, while Nova just began the lonely walk back to the Super Robot's Bridge. "Stupid Gibson...why is he almost never wrong?"

Back inside the darkened workshop, Chiro was staring at the deactivated form of his robot girlfriend...still armored up just as Gibson told him. He was beginning to regret more and more ever letting her join the team, thanks to him, she couldn't even _look _human anymore. "I'm so sorry Jinmay..." he said to her, "If it weren't for me, none of this would've ever happened to you." he grabbed hold of her gloved hand and pulled the glove off...there was metal underneath. Just as he expected. "I promise...I won't stop until I find you that part. Not ever." Chiro put her glove back on her metal-covered hand and turned to pull the switch that would power her back up.

With a slowly rising whirring sound, the machine filled Jinmay's body with power, and the robot girl's eyes blinked a few times before finally focusing on the form bending over her. "Who's there?" she asked, as her eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness.

"It's me."

Luckily her ears were working just fine, and his voice was like music to them. "Chiro...oh thank goodness you're alright." she grabbed his hand and held it, but then she noticed that her arm was still armored up, "Oh, still powered up...hang on a sec." she focused on deactivating her powers, but nothing happened. "What?" she tried again. Still nothing. "No, no! What's going on?!"

Chiro turned his head away in remorse, "Jinmay...Gibson couldn't fix your transforming mechanism...something about a part that was totally destroyed."

Jinmay looked down at herself and felt the metal she was wrapped in, "So you mean...I'm stuck like this? Forever?"

"Not forever!" Chiro suddenly looked very determined, "We're gonna find you that part, we won't stop looking until we find it! I swear it!"

Jinmay was touched to be sure, but somehow she found herself focusing more on the fact that she couldn't power back down at all right now. She felt the top of her head...her hair was now part of her metal exterior. Something she had never really understood about herself was how she could have real hair, and at the same time it obviously _wasn't _real since it transformed into metal whenever she armored up. "Can I tell you something Chiro?"

"Anything."

"I...I never really found out anything about where I came from..." Jinmay finally sat up and hung her legs over the edge of the recovery bed, she put her hands down on the bed and her hands touched a part that looked horribly bent out of shape. She picked it up and held it in front of her face, "The transformer?"

"I guess...it's the only part of you that's not _in _you."

Jinmay sighed and put the part back down, "I looked around the galaxy for weeks trying to find some sort of clue as to where I came from, who made me, why I was the way I was...then when Mandarin attacked me I grew as big as I could to try and stop him, but no matter what I threw at him it wasn't enough..."

"I know." Chiro replied grimly, "Then he and Sokko stole your body, but you managed to get away by separating your head from your body so you could warn us."

The armored girl looked down at the floor, "I tried to go out and look for answers again, but I couldn't make myself go too far away from Shuggazoom...I was afraid that something would happen again, and that I wouldn't get so lucky the next time."

Chiro sighed and took Jinmay's hands into his, he frowned when she tried to pull them away, but he held them tight until she finally stopped resisting. "Jinmay...do you...wanna go out and search for answers again? You could handle it now, Nova's taught you how to defend yourself and...obviously you've got the power to do it."

Jinmay looked into the eyes of her human boyfriend, and saw pain. "No Chiro, I don't wanna leave you, especially now when you need all the help you can get...but...I _do _still want answers...who knows? Maybe if I could find my creator, he could fix me himself, if _anyone _would have my missing part, it'd be him...or her..."

"Or it?" The couple laughed a little before embracing, as much as Chiro didn't want to admit it to himself...it wasn't as nice hugging Jinmay when she was stuck in battle mode, as all he could feel was the cold metal she was wrapped in, not the human warmth underneath. But at this point, he didn't care. All he wanted was to make sure she was safe, "Jinmay, I want you to do me a big favor."

"Name it Chiro."

Chiro pulled back a little to look into her spring-green eyes; the whites of her eyes were now also green as a result of her battle mode, but if he could take comfort in at least one thing, even if she appeared totally robotic now, her eyes still held all the warmth and love that they had before. "I want you to be really careful from now on, if you get hurt, don't keep going until you can't anymore..." Chiro's grip on her tightened, although her body didn't give way at all because of her armor, "If something ever happened to you and the monkeys couldn't bring you back...I dunno what I'd do..."

"Oh Chiro..." Jinmay also tightened her grip on Chiro, although she was extremely careful not to crush him as her already impressive robot strength was highly augmented when in battle mode, "I'm sorry I made you worry...but...I dunno if that's a promise I can keep."

Chiro reeled back in shock, "But...why not?"

"For the same reasons you want me to make the promise. I dunno what I'd do if I ever lost _you _either...if I didn't at least try to save you, I'd probably never forgive myself...it's like...when you went to save Antauri."

"Antauri? What does _that_ have to do with anything? I wasn't even in my right mind when I went after Antauri."

"But your heart led you during that time, and your heart told you to at least try and bring back Antauri...that's the way _I _feel whenever I see you in danger, I need to at least _try _to save you...if I were to stand by and let you die when I knew that I had a chance to save you...even if I risked my own life to do it...I'd hate myself forever."

"Jinmay..."

Suddenly Chiro's communicator began to beep, "Chiro, come in Chiro."

Chiro looked up from the communicator to glance sadly at Jinmay, and the robot girl gave him a weak smile in return, "We'll talk about this later...right now we've got work to do."

The boy nodded and spoke into his communicator, "I read you Antauri, what's up?"

"I know you're not feeling well, but I think it's time you made an appearance." the silver simian replied.

Chiro sighed, "Alright, we'll be up in a sec." Chiro deactivated his communicator and stared longingly at the robot girl, "I love you Jinmay, and don't worry, I won't rest until that part is found."

Jinmay smiled at that, "I love you too Chiro...but...I'd rather you let yourself rest, after all, what good is a leader who drives himself insane with sleep deprivation?" she joked.

Chiro finally relinquished a sincere laugh, "Ok, maybe I'll rest a _little." _

"Good." Jinmay hopped off the table and kissed the boy's cheek with her metal lips, causing him to shiver when the cold iron touched him, "Oh, sorry!"

"Don't be...that...was kinda interesting actually." the Hyperforce leader chuckled sheepishly. Jinmay smirked and walked out of the workshop with Chiro by her side. When they finally reached the Bridge, the couple was shocked to see the leader of the Robo-Apes, the Sun Riders, Master Offay, Mobius Quint and his crew, and even some allies he didn't think he had. _"You _guys?"

The unexpected teammates got up from the large conference table that had been placed in the middle of the Bridge, and their leader spoke up, "We Amphiboids _always _answer when there's a call for help. Where there's evil, we'll be there to stop it!" the blue-skinned gremlin-like humanoid exclaimed dramatically.

Everyone in the room sweat-dropped at the frog leader's badly timed enthusiasm, and when he noticed everyone staring at him strangely, he chuckled nervously. "You'll have to excuse our leader, as good as he is at what he does, he's still young." the black frog explained.

"No problem," Chiro replied with a grin, "I understand how he feels."

"Yes, you _have _been prone to show extreme cases of juvenile immaturity at inappropriate times." Antauri smirked with his arms crossed.

"Antauri! Don't say stuff like that in front of visitors!" Chiro whined.

Everyone laughed at the Hyperforce leader's misfortune, "In any case, I think it would be an excellent idea if you all were to introduce yourselves. Since we'll be working together, it's best we know a little about each other." Antauri suggested, "Would you care to go first?"

The Amphiboid leader nodded, "My name is Kyros, leader of the Amphiboids," he gestured to the frogs flanking him, "And this is my team."

The black frog stepped up, "I am Eldred, second-in-command of the Amphiboids."

Then the blue frog, who the Hyperforce already knew, took his turn. "I am Supaa, the chief of science for the team."

"Hi, I'm Xena," the yellow frog said with a wave, "I'm the one the team goes to when they need combat training! Or if they need the snot beaten out of 'em!"

"I like your style frog girl!" Nova said with a grin.

"You _would." _Sprx commented quietly, which earned him a harsh smack in the back of the head from the yellow monkey. _"Same old Nova." _he thought as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey, my name's Gus! I'm the mechanic! I can build anything you ask for, I can even build things you _don't _ask for!" the green frog exclaimed excitedly.

"Excellent." Antauri said with a polite nod, "And you?"

"The name's Aero," the red frog said in a cocky tone, "Best pilot in the galaxy and a great sniper to boot." the red frog twirled a laser pistol in his webbed hands.

"Best pilot?!" two insulted voices, one human and one simian, suddenly rung out.

"Now you know what it sounds like to listen to _you _Sprx." Nova snickered.

"I don't sound like that!" the red primate objected, "And as for _you," _Sprx pointed an accusing finger at the red frog, "You're gonna have to _prove _you're the best! How about a little flight simulator challenge later on?"

"No problem, I look forward to the challenge." Aero saluted with a smirk.

"Ok, now it's my turn." Quint stood up, "The name's Captain Mobius Quint, and _I'm _the best pilot in the _universe. _Sorry Red and Red, but as good as you are," Quint switched his attention to Aero, "Or might be...I'm _still _the better pilot."

"Care to put your money where your mouth is Quint?" Sprx smirked.

"Thought you'd never ask, bring it on!" the human pilot grinned with excitement.

"Hey!" Nova shouted suddenly, "Can we save Sprx's Super Pilot Showdown until _after _we're done here?" she glared at the red monkey before addressing everyone else again, "Don't forget that this isn't a casual get-together, this is a war counsel! And Skeleton King could attack at any time!"

"Nova is correct." Eldred said with a nod, "There's a time and a place for everything, and now is _not _the right time for such talk."

"I couldn't have said it better myself Eldred." Antauri smiled, "Now then, who's next?"

The yellow Robo-Ape stood up, "I represent the entire community of Robo-Apes, we are honored by this opportunity to battle alongside the Monkey Team, and now all of you as well."

"How many apes you got in that ship of yours anyway?" Quint asked.

"Over 250 reside in our craft, all of them warriors prepared to defend the Monkey Team's home."

"And for that, we thank you." Antauri replied, "Master Offay, would you care to go next?"

The elderly warrior nodded and stood up, his form not nearly as muscular as it was when the Dark One's influence had mutated him, but for his age he was in astounding shape. "I am Master Offay, the old combat instructor for Nova and Chiro...I look forward to working with all of you, especially _you _Xena, I am interested to see what you can do in the dojo."

Xena bowed, "It would be my honor!"

"It's about time our turn came up." Johnny Sunspot and his teammates stood up.

_"I _will introduce us Johnny." Quasar said, much to Johnny's annoyance. "We are the Sun Riders, actors who were tricked into working for Skeleton King in exchange for power...but thanks to Chiro-san and his Monkey Team, we were put into a position for us to redeem our honor."

Quasar's testimony earned a small round of applause from a few members of the frogs and Master Offay. "I understand how you feel Quasar, I too fell under Skeleton King's influence, it was not one of my better moments."

"Yeah...mine either." Sprx lowered his head as he was momentarily reminded of his failure.

"Or mine." Jinmay added, as she too was reminded of the time she almost killed Chiro shortly after meeting him.

"Let's not dwell on our past failures," Antauri reprimanded gently, "Skeleton King's evil has touched us all in one way or another, and at no time were any of us to blame for it. We may believe that we should have fought back and resisted, but we must always bear in mind that sometimes it is far easier said than done...even _I _have been manipulated by Skeleton King at some point, and thus we should always be aware that he is a cunning individual who knows how to his enemies' weaknesses against them."

"Well said Antauri." Eldred said.

"Yeah, thanks Antauri." Chiro finally took his turn to speak, "I just wanna thank you guys for coming to help us, you were aware of the risks and you came anyway. With all of us working together, I'm sure we'll be able to finally defeat Skeleton King once and for all!"

"Sounds great...I do have one question though."

Chiro blinked, he wasn't expecting a response like that from his speech, "What's that Kyros?"

"Who's the pretty metal girl standing next to you?"

Jinmay blushed slightly at the compliment, although she would've preferred it from Chiro of course. "I guess I'm not as well-known as you and the monkeys Chiro." she said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it." Putting an arm around Jinmay's shoulders, Chiro answered the Amphiboid leader, "This is Jinmay, my _girlfriend." _he stressed that part to send a message to the gremlin-like creature.

"Alright, geez, I was just wondering." Kyros said defensively.

Antauri cleared his throat, "In any case, now that we've all been introduced to each other, we should begin discussing our defensive strategies in case Skeleton King decides to launch another full-scale attack, we can't afford to leap into battle blindly like we were forced to earlier."

"Can I just say something?" Quint lazily raised his hand, "Look, it's _great _that I can understand you monkeys now, and I'm looking forward to testing my pilot skills against the Reds squared over there...but haven't you been playing defense too long now? It just seems to me that waiting for that monster to make the first move isn't gonna be very productive towards actually _beating _him."

"That's..." Chiro hesitated, "Actually a good point...what do you think Antauri?"

Antauri exhaled before responding, "To launch an attack on the Skeleton King is harder than one might think."

"Yeah," Nova chimed in, "Going after the Skeleton King worm took a lot longer than we thought it would, and when we _did _get a shot at it...it usually ended kinda bad for us."

"I'll say." Sprx added, "We almost lost Nova forever in a wormhole, Chiro almost got killed inside the worm by Mandarin, Antauri almost got tossed onto some unknown planet while _fighting _the worm, me, Gibson and Otto almost got trashed by zombie astronauts...and we almost lost Nova forever in a wormhole!"

"Yeah but that was _before _you had a whole army backing you up Red, _now _you've got a fighting chance." Quint replied, "Think about it, there's three giant robots outside ready for battle, including the one we're standing in, you've got a battalion of robot gorillas in that ship out there, a team of frogs that's an uncanny parallel to _your _team, we can do it!"

"You raise many good points," Antauri said, "Perhaps it _is _time we took a more aggressive approach against the Skeleton King and his army...but at the same time, we still have a responsibility to the citizens of Shuggazoom City to keep them safe from monster attacks, we cannot simply lower our defenses in exchange for greater attack capability."

"Then maybe we should take a more stealthy approach." Supaa suggested.

"What'd you have in mind?" Chiro asked, "A sort of guerrilla warfare?"

"Gorilla warfare is not very stealthy." the yellow Robo-Ape pointed out.

"Uh, not gorilla as in ape, guerrilla is a word that describes small groups going out to do sneak attacks or sabotage jobs." Nova explained, "The only problem with that is Skeleton King's probably got his whole fortress more heavily guarded than the Shuggazoom Federal Bank."

Johnny raised his hand, _"We _could do it."

"Yes, our Solar Shields provide a means to camouflage ourselves." Aurora removed a diamond shaped pendant from her shoulder and placed it on her chest. She then pressed the button in the middle of the gadget, and she slowly faded until she was nothing more than a face and a bunch of orange stripes running down where the rest of her body would be.

"That's not gonna work, we can still see you." Chiro pointed out.

"That's because _she's _still wearing the prototype." Johnny smirked as he activated his own Solar Shield, and he too began to fade, only this time he was rendered completely invisible. "Presenting the Sun Rider Solar Shield 2.0! Guaranteed to trick any brainless minion or your money back!" he rematerialized with a smug grin on his face, "Pretty cool huh?"

"Fascinating." Supaa remarked, "I suppose your invention utilizes a very advanced light-bending technology in order to render you undetectable?"

"Actually it's more of a specially designed covering that sends out invisible waves of energy which distorts the wearer's appearance to the point of being invisible." Johnny replied.

Sprx's eyes suddenly began blinking with questions marks, "Come again Brainstrain One and Two? I thought just having _Gibson _around was bad, but having all _three _of you here is gonna make my head explode."

"Well if that happens, at least it won't make much of a mess." Nova shrugged, much to Sprx's annoyance.

"Speaking of Gibson, where is he anyway?" Chiro wondered.

The group began looking around in confusion, "Yeah...Otto's been missing for a while too." Nova pointed out.

At that moment, Gibson came in with a disappointed look on his face, "Where ya been Gibson?" Chiro asked.

"I'm sorry Chiro..." Gibson sighed, "I've looked into every possible solution I could think of, I even tried some things that went against every law of logic there is...but I couldn't come up with a feasible way of replacing Jinmay's transformer...in order to fully repair her system, it will have to be with the real thing."

"So what's the big deal?" Otto suddenly appeared, "We'll just use this!" Otto held up a piece of metal that looked incredibly familiar.

Gibson shrieked, as monkeys tend to do when they're shocked, and he seemed to warp from one side of the room to where Otto was, "Otto! Where - or rather how I should say - did you manage to find the exact part we needed to replace Jinmay's transformer?!"

"I told you I was gonna go look in my junk drawer." Otto shrugged.

"So does that mean...you can fix me?" Jinmay asked hopefully.

"Yes, that's _precisely _what it means!" Gibson replied with a grin, "Come along Otto, we've got a job to finish!"

"Right behind ya Gibson!" Otto exclaimed, "Come on Jinmay, we're gonna put you back together again like Humpty Dumpty!"

"Uh Otto...Humpty Dumpty _couldn't _be put back together again." Chiro pointed out.

"Oh..." Otto blinked, but then he shrugged, "Oh well, it still _sounded _cool. Come on! What are we waiting for?!"

"Guess this means you can rest now Chiro." Jinmay winked before walking off, "I'll seeya later."

"Looking forward to it." the Hyperforce leader replied. Then Chiro turned to address the other members of his new team, "Guess now all that's left to do is come up with an attack strategy." But suddenly, the robot's viewing screen began to flicker as an intruding transmission came in, "You!"

"Yes Chiro, it _is _me...do you really think there's anywhere you can hide that I won't find you?" the Skeleton King's image chortled at him.

"Who's hiding bonehead?!" Sprx roared, "You're gonna know what it feels like to be run over by a tank by the time _I'm _through with you!"

"So much hate...perhaps the power of the flame has yet to leave you after all."

"What?!"

"You're wrong!" Nova snarled, "Sprx's heart is clean! The only hate he has is the one we _all _share, a hatred of _you! _Now get off our viewscreen, we've got nothing to say to you!"

"If you insist..." the Skeleton King began to cackle before he finally cut off the transmission.

"Can you _believe _the_ nerve _of that monster?! Hacking into our transmission frequency just to try and get under our skin?!" Nova scowled.

"Remember what I taught you Nova." Offay spoke up, "In order to truly weaken an opponent, you must keep them off balance...the Skeleton King is obviously quite skilled at that."

"Y-Yes Master..." Nova took a deep breath, "So he's trying to throw us off our game, fine. We don't have to fall for it."

"There might be more to it than that, enemies don't usually call just to say hi." Kyros said.

Suddenly an alarm went off inside the robot, and the viewing screen automatically put what the sensors were showing on it. "What is that thing?" Chiro wondered.

Sprx and Nova went over to the control panel and began pressing keys, and the screen began to zoom in on the strange anomaly flying towards the atmosphere, "What? This can't be right!" Nova exclaimed, "If the sensors are reading this right...then Skeleton King is headed towards space!"

"So...what? He's retreating?" Quint asked.

"No..." Antauri closed his eyes and focused his Power Primate, "That's not Skeleton King, but the creature residing inside that ship has much of his evil energy powering it...this could be a trick to goad us into splitting our forces in half."

"But what if Skeleton King's trying to attack other worlds like he did when he was a part of that worm? We can't all stay here and let the universe be corrupted!" Nova exclaimed worriedly.

"You will not have to Nova-chan." Quasar said, "We will remain here on Shuggazoom City with our new allies, while you go and investigate this new evil."

"Really?" Chiro replied, "But...how are we gonna know how things are going here?"

"That's easy!" Gus exclaimed, "Our robot's communications console is state-of-the-art, we'll be able to call you monkeys even if you get warped to a whole other universe!"

"And if things get out of hand within our own ranks, I'll be here to reestablish peace." Master Offay added.

"Like I'm gonna listen to _that _old dinosaur." Johnny snickered to his female teammate, but his smile quickly turned upside-down when he was bonked on the head by a wooden staff, "Ow!"

"This old dinosaur has excellent hearing you boob!" Offay got right into Johnny's face, "I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Good. He could use someone to watch him." Aurora giggled.

"Sometimes I wonder whose side you're on." Johnny grumbled as he rubbed his head.

"The enemy vessel is leaving the atmosphere, we gotta make a decision kid..." Sprx said.

"Ok..." Chiro turned to his allies, "We're leaving Shuggazoom City in your care, we can't let Skeleton King's evil spread beyond Shuggazoom ever again!"

"We will not fail you, Chiro-san." with a final bow, Quasar led the Sun Riders out of the robot.

"Try not to get killed out there, 'kay Chee-ro?" Johnny snickered.

"Your concern is so touching." Chiro scoffed.

Then the frogs, Quint, Offay, and the Robo-Apes all took their leave, which left only the Hyperforce on the robot. "Looks like we're headed back into the galaxy, hopefully this time we won't run into any wormholes." Sprx grumbled.

"You know you mentioned how you almost lost me in a wormhole twice in the same sentence?" Nova smirked.

"Uh well I...y-you know me, when I get going I tend to lose track of things." the red monkey chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I know." Nova winked and walked over to her tube, where she was whisked off to the depths of the robot.

"Yep...same old Nova." Sprx smiled warmly in the direction Nova had gone, and he promptly zoned out.

"Sprx...Shuggazoom to Sprx, come in Sprx." Chiro waved his hand in front of the red primate's face, and got no response. Then a sneaky idea came to his mind, and he grinned mischievously, "Nova! Quit kissing Antauri and get back to work!"

"What?!" Sprx activated his magnets out of reflex and looked around in fury, but all he saw was a nervously grinning Chiro and an indifferent Antauri. Sprx put his magnets away and crossed his arms as he glared at his leader, "Real funny kid."

Chiro shrugged, "Had to try somethin'." Chiro went over to Antauri and looked at the screen with the silver primate, "Well Antauri, looks like we're heading back into the galaxy."

"Not me Chiro."

Chiro blinked a few times before using his finger to try and clear his ear, "I must've gotten something stuck in my ear...it almost sounded like you said you weren't coming with us."

"I'm not."

"But...but why not?!"

Antauri turned to look his leader in the eyes, "Someone has to stay behind and represent the Hyperforce while you go and chase whatever creature Skeleton King is sending into the galaxy, as the second-in-command, I would have the greatest influence aside from you staying yourself."

"C'mon Antauri, these guys are all good guys too, they can handle it!" Chiro argued.

Antauri shook his head, "They need someone who is familiar with the Skeleton King and how he operates in order to succeed, to leave them all here with little to no knowledge of the Skeleton King's tactics would not only be foolish, but irresponsible."

"I'm not followin' ya to be honest." Sprx spoke up, "I get why leaving them here to learn as they go along might be a little dumb, but how does irresponsibility factor in?"

"These people and creatures have all come from the farthest reaches of the galaxy to aid us in our time of need, to simply leave them all here to fend for themselves would be a sign of ungratefulness on our part. They are here to help, not fight the war _for _us."

"But what are we gonna do without you Antauri? We _need _you." Chiro pleaded.

"No Chiro, you don't need me to stop this threat, you have grown to become a great leader, you can handle this task." Antauri relinquished a smile, "Besides, I'm _always _with you, no matter what. Remember..."

"We're connected...through the Power Primate." Chiro's face grew determined, "I won't fail you Antauri, I'll make sure your faith in me isn't misplaced."

"You already have Chiro," the silver monkey placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "You have proven yourself time and time again, each time showing further proof that you are worthy of the mantle you bear."

"That's great Antauri," Sprx crossed his arms, "I have faith in the kid too, but if you stay, we're still one team member down, and I don't like the idea of us going out there without a full roster."

"The team will still have its numbers Sprx...I will be sending Jinmay in my place to pilot the Brain Scrambler Pilot 2."

"Uh...no offense Antauri...but do we need Gibson to take a look at that robo-brain of yours?" Sprx raised an eyebrow, "Remember what happened the _last _time Jinmay tried to pilot the robot? We almost got corkscrewed into the ground."

"Actually Sprx..." Chiro rubbed the back of his head, "The last time Jinmay piloted was in your Fist Rocket...ya know...when you were having a sort of identity crisis?"

Sprx shrieked, "You let her fly my rocket?!"

"Hey, we didn't have a choice!" Chiro put his hands up, "Besides, she didn't crash it or anything, ever since the Torso Tank incident, she's been logging a lot of practice time in the flight simulators!"

Sprx stood still for a moment, but his stance eventually relaxed, "Ok kid, I understand...huh, I guess Jinmay's really comin' into her own as a Hyperforce member."

Chiro thought about what Sprx had just said, and realized the red monkey was right. Despite all his earlier worries and regrets, he realized it was just him being concerned for his girlfriend. Jinmay had been able to keep the city safe in their absence except for the one isolated incident that even _they _couldn't handle at first. And ever since then, Jinmay had only gotten stronger, smarter and more experienced. Also with the blossoming of her skills and powers, a new sense of courage was being born inside her, a trait that Chiro found made the robot girl even more attractive to him than ever before. "Yeah, Jinmay's really made a difference for us."

"Thanks Chiro."

Chiro turned around and saw Jinmay coyly smiling at him...and she looked totally human. "Jinmay!" Chiro rushed to embrace the girl, and sure enough he could feel her human skin on her arms and face, and also her hair had regained its original softness, as if she were an actual human being, "How d'ya feel?"

"Right now?" Jinmay whispered as she reciprocated the embrace, "Like I'm the luckiest girl in the universe."

They broke apart and smiled at each other, as the monkey team with the exception of the absent Nova smiled at the scene. Unfortunately however, there wasn't much time to enjoy it. "It's time you departed Monkey Team, the craft is almost out of range of our sensors." Antauri said.

"Wait...why's he talkin' like he's not comin'?" Otto scratched his head.

"He's _not, _but don't worry, we'll be ok, Jinmay's gonna come with us and take Antauri's place while he stays behind and runs everything down here..." Noting Jinmay's suddenly nervous expression, he grabbed her hands and squeezed them, silently rejoicing in the fact that they gave way under his pressure thanks to the current lack of armor, "You can do it Jinmay, you've proven that time and time again...and each time you've given us further proof that you're worthy of the mantle you bear."

"Gee, that doesn't sound familiar _at all." _Sprx smirked.

"Shut up Sprx." Chiro mumbled in sing-song before turning his attention back to Jinmay who was now rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

"You stole that line from Antauri didn't you?"

Chiro's eyes began trying to avoid looking at hers directly, "Uh well...it sounded appropriate."

Jinmay giggled, "It's ok Chiro, I get what you wanted to tell me." she leaned in and pecked the inner part of the boy's cheek which caused him to blush slightly, "Let's go bash some baddies."

Chiro nodded and looked at Antauri. "Alright, we're ready."

Antauri nodded back and began to levitate. "Remember Chiro, if you ever need me, the Power Primate is our link." Antauri floated over to his tube and disappeared, moments later, Antauri was shown on the viewscreen leaving the robot. "Good luck team." he spoke over the communicator before signing off.

Chiro looked at his team, which currently consisted of his girlfriend Jinmay, his mechanic Otto, his scientist Gibson, his top pilot Sprx, and then the third-in-command Nova reappeared from her tube. "Where's Antauri going?" the yellow monkey asked.

"He's staying behind to lead the attack against Skeleton King while _we _chase that thing into space." As he expected, Nova was stunned, "Don't worry Nova, we can do it. If Antauri has faith in us, then we won't let him down."

Nova's face became determined, and she nodded at her leader, "Got it."

"Otto, get us outta here!" Chiro exclaimed.

The green monkey went over to the control panel and pushed a lever up, and the robot undocked and blasted off into space to chase after whatever creature Skeleton King had sent to terrorize the galaxy.

"Perfect..." the evil king chortled to himself, "The boy has done exactly what I expected of him...leaving the safety of Shuggazoom to go do battle with my greatest malevolent creation."

"So you intend to strike now while the Hyperforce is away?" Mandarin asked.

"Oh no Mandarin, no that wouldn't be very wise. You saw that silver simian stay behind to lead their forces against me? I predicted that as well. No...we will send some forces their way every once in a while just to keep them honest, but my _true _goal now flies off into the cosmos...Chiro has no idea what he will soon be facing, or what sacrifices he will have to make to defeat my creature, which of course he will continue trying to do until he succeeds or dies trying. Either way is acceptable to me. His team will either die in the coldness of space, or come home with so much weighing down on their hearts that they will not only be ineffective against my forces, but they will be a hindrance to their allies, causing _even more _unrest within their ranks...you will soon realize Chiro...just how futile it is for you to resist me."  
_

**A/N: It may seem like things are scattered around all over the place, but trust me, everything is there for a reason. I'm also wondering if I should raise the rating on this story to T, things are gonna start getting a lot darker really fast, at least what I consider dark. I don't usually go in the direction I'm going, but with darker shows, comes darker stories. Pokemon is usually always happy, this show wasn't. Jinmay almost lost the ability to appear human, Antauri's staying behind while the rest of the team goes after whatever Skeleton King shot into space...and what DID he shoot into space? The answers will come soon, please read and review, show some love for your fandom with reviews!**


	4. The Other Side of Me

**Ok, I managed to get this chapter done...it was driving me crazy actually, I actually did a lot of rewriting because I was afraid that I wasn't being true to the characters with what I wrote, even now I have some reservations, but I felt if I changed anymore I wouldn't have the same scene I wanted to add anymore...anyway, enough's enough. I'll let you readers be the judge of how well I did.  
**_

Just as the Super Robot left Shuggazoom's atmosphere, they were hailed by the Amphiboid mechanic known as Gus, "Testing, testing. Is this thing on?"

"We read you Gus, what's going on?" Chiro responded.

Gus shrugged, "Oh, nothing. Just wanted to make sure everything was working the way it's supposed to."

"Great idea Gus!" Otto exclaimed, "It sure would be pretty awful if we suddenly lost communications out here in space, why, Shuggazoom could wind up blowing up and we wouldn't even know it!"

"Otto!" Nova snarled.

Otto shrunk back, "I was just sayin'."

"Well _don't _be sayin'."

At that moment, Antauri floated into the screen's view, "Remember Chiro, your objective is to destroy the creature as quickly as possible and get back to Shuggazoom."

"I got it Antauri." Chiro pressed a button and the transmission was cut off to allow the Hyperforce to see their sensor readings, "We're closing in on Skeleton King's crony!"

"I gotta give the bonehead some credit, he designed that ship in good taste...ya know, besides the fact it's made of bone." Sprx shrugged when he got looks from everyone. The enemy ship was very sleek and appeared to be built for speed, much like the speeder the evil Wigglenog had offered Sprx during their chase of the Dark One Worm.

"Sensors indicate we will be in weapons range of the enemy vessel in approximately 32.8 seconds." Gibson reported.

_"Approximately?_ Can't you ever use a _round _number Brainstrain?" Sprx scoffed.

"Oh no ya don't," Nova stepped in-between the red and blue monkeys and shoved them away from each other, "We're not having another alpha male smackdown between you two, we've got a job to do!"

"She's right!" Chiro looked at the screen, "Only twenty seconds until we're in range, monkeys mobilize!" Chiro and the monkeys headed into their respective tubes while Jinmay hopped into Antauri's, and they were whisked into their respective vehicles.

"Foot Crusher Cruiser 6 GO!"

"Foot Crusher Cruiser 5 GO!"

"Fist Rocket 4 GO!"

"Fist Rocket 3 GO!"

Finally Jinmay's turn to report in came, "Uh...oh yeah! Brain Scrambler Pilot 2 GO!"

"Torso Tank Driver 1 GO!" Chiro shouted, "Sound off team! SUPER!"

"ROBOT!"

"MONKEY!"

"TEAM!"

"HYPER!"

"FORCE!"

**"GO!"**

"Hey, nice job kid, you're really gettin' the hang of things." Sprx gave the robot girl a thumbs-up.

Jinmay rubbed the back of her armored neck, "Well I already knew it...I just gotta get used to it, my role changes every time I jump into a different part of the robot."

"You did great Jinmay." Chiro reassured as he looked over his cockpit's viewscreen, "Charge the weapons team, we'll be on him in just seconds!"

"And then we'll trash this thing!" Nova's confident declaration came before the enemy ship opened fire on them, "Incoming!"

"Evasive maneuvers team!" Unfortunately the lasers struck the robot at full force, and the team cried out when they started getting shaken up inside their cockpits, "Ok, he had his shot, now it's _our _turn!"

"I'm all over it!" Sprx pressed a button and the robot launched missiles out of the fingers on Sprx's Fist Rocket, but the bone ship evaded the attack and turned around to make another attack run, "Here he comes!"

The ship zoomed past the robot after firing, causing further damage, "Whatever this creature is using for weapons, they're stronger than the average variety of lasers." Gibson reported.

"He's coming back to set up for another run!" Nova exclaimed.

"Alright, get ready to fire eye beams when he passes!" Chiro watched the blip on his screen rapidly approach, "Now Jinmay!"

Jinmay jammed down the firing button, and the antenna ray warmed up and fired, managing to hit the ship as it passed, "Oops, wrong button...sorry guys, I haven't gotten much practice with the Brain Scrambler!"

"Hey, did you hit the creep? Then who cares?!" Nova exclaimed.

"Hate to rain on this parade..." Sprx chimed in, "But the ship's coming back!"

The ship came around and launched spheres of dark energy at the robot, and zoomed off again before the Hyperforce could retaliate. "This thing's too fast for us!" Otto gulped.

"Gibson, we could use a bright idea here." Sprx spoke up.

Gibson thought for a moment, "If the robot is not fast enough to keep up with the ship," just then the ship came around for another strike, "Which clearly it isn't...perhaps attempting to outnumber it will turn the tides!"

"It's worth a shot, Hyperforce, prepare to disengage!" Chiro shouted.

_"Oh boy..." _Jinmay launched the Super Robot's head off its torso and transformed it into the Brain Scrambler Pilot 2. "Phew, ok...so far so good." she took a moment to breathe with relief, but that was before the ship started focusing its attack on her, "Monkey Team, I could use a little help here!" The robot girl did her best to try and evade the ship's attacks, but it was clear who the better pilot was.

"That ship's going after Jinmay! But _why?!" _Chiro said in horror.

"Don't worry kid, we got this covered! C'mon Gibson!"

"Acknowledged Sprx."

The two Fist Rockets flew over to where Jinmay was trying desperately to dodge their adversary's attacks with her limited piloting skills, "Jinmay, take a nose dive and then rocket back up! We're gonna get this creep off your tail!" Sprx ordered.

"O-Ok!" The rattled robot girl followed through and sped downwards, and then once the ship behind her settled in and fired, she started climbing back up and managed to dodge the shots.

"Here they come, you ready Gibson?"

Gibson focused on his targeting systems, "Weapons are armed and ready, target locked!"

Just as Jinmay flew by, Sprx made the call, "Let 'im have it!" The two Fist Rockets fired and the boney ship went spiraling away, "Got 'im!"

Jinmay wiped her brow of nonexistent sweat, "Phew, thanks guys."

Sprx gave a salute with his tail before chasing after the ship again, "Alright pal, you think you're so big and bad picking on a rookie? Let's see how well you handle monkey fighting with a pilot your _own _size!" Sprx opened fire, but the ship leveled out and managed to dodge the assault, "This thing's pretty good," Sprx smirked, "But not as good as me." Sprx barrel rolled and launched a barrage of energy beams at the ship, managing to hit it a couple of times, "Not so tough _now _are ya?"

"Sprx, I'm picking up a strange build up of energy coming from that ship...it's getting ready to do something!" Gibson warned.

"You worry too much, this thing's _nothin'!" _Sprx moved in closer to finish it off, "You're _mine!" _

But just as Sprx got close enough for his liking, a hole opened up in the back of the ship, and a giant beam of pure dark energy struck and enveloped the Fist Rocket 3. "Sprx!" Nova cried as she heard the red monkey's screeches of agony over the intercom.

"Oh no...the Fist Rocket's hull is beginning to fail, if this continues for much longer..." Gibson was cut off by Nova's furious battle cry.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Nova pushed her thrusters beyond their limits and used all of her ship's remaining power to raise her shields.

"Nova's on a collision course!" Otto shouted in horror.

"Nova don't! Just fire at it!" Chiro exclaimed. But Nova was in a blind rage, she didn't ever hear Chiro's order to stop through the angry thoughts running through her mind. Finally she made contact with the bone ship, and the beam immediately stopped as the ship shattered to pieces and Nova's ship began sparking violently from the sustained damage. "Nova! Come in Nova!"

"Chiro, sensors indicate both Sprx and Nova are unconscious, but alive. I don't know if I can say the same for the Foot Crusher and Fist Rocket." Gibson reported.

"Reengage the robot! We'll use the tractor beams to get them inside the cargo hold!" Chiro ordered. After making sure the ship was currently of no threat to them, the ream reassembled their parts of the robot before using the tractor beams to lead Nova's Foot Crusher Cruiser 6 and Sprx's Fist Rocket 3 safely into the cargo hold, leaving the Super Robot without one foot and one hand. "Alright, Otto, get 'em outta there!"

"No problem Chief!" Otto activated his energy saws and cut a square hole into the Foot Crusher before leaping over to do the same to the Fist Rocket. "We got real lucky Chiro, they're lookin' a lot better than their ships." Otto morphed his hand into the proper plug-in and shoved it into the back of Sprx's head, rebooting his system. "There ya go man, how d'ya feel?"

"Ugh..." Sprx shuddered, "Honestly? I feel exactly the same way I felt when you guys put out that stupid flame that was possessing me." then the memory of what had just happened reached his mind, "Nova!" he leaped out of the cockpit and scampered over to the badly damaged Foot Crusher, "Is she alright?!"

Gibson was about to reactivate Nova when Sprx pushed him out of the way, "Sprx!"

Ignoring Gibson's annoyed outburst, Sprx took it upon himself to reboot Nova's system, and after a few moments, the yellow monkey blinked a few times before slowly getting to her hands and knees, "Oh...I'm _never _doing _that _again."

"Nova!" Sprx suddenly had his metal arms wrapped tightly around Nova's torso, "Don't you _ever _scare me like that again...I thought you were a goner!"

"Ok Sprx...two things..." Nova replied, "First...I'll do my best to keep from doing stupid things like that again."

Sprx pulled back to look into her eyes, "What's the other thing?"

Nova was about to yell in his face and tell him to get off of her, but seeing the utter relief in his eyes softened her, "Never mind, it wasn't important."

"I'm just glad you're ok."

_"I'll _be the judge of that Sprx." Gibson pulled the red primate off of Nova and kneeled down to examine the yellow monkey's system. "You have a couple of burnouts and your energy cell is leaking again...I think it's time I started replacing some of your more worn out parts."

"Hey, what about _me?_ I _said _I felt weird after I got reactivated!" Sprx exclaimed.

Gibson glared at the red monkey through his peripheral vision, _"Clearly _you're just fine if you can find the strength to shove me out of the way before I could reactivate Nova."

"Uh..." Otto timidly raised his hand, "Actually Gibson, he _did _say that _before _remembering what happened to Nova."

Gibson grunted in annoyance, "Oh very well, come along, we'll take you _both _to the recovery ward and get you checked out more extensively." The three primary-colored monkeys headed to the transport tubes and were whisked away to the recovery ward.

"I hope they're ok." Jinmay said with concern.

"They'll be fine," Chiro placed a reassuring hand on the robot girl's shoulder, "I'm more worried about the Fist Rocket and Foot Crusher at this point. Otto?"

"Right, just gimme a sec and I'll have a full report for ya!" Otto hopped into the Fist Rocket and rattled around in there for a second before leaping out and diving into the Foot Crusher and doing the same thing. Moments later, he popped his head out with his lips pursed, "Oh yeah, these things are beat up bad."

"How soon can you have 'em up and running?" Chiro asked.

"It's gonna take a while...with Gibson's help maybe a couple of days?"

Chiro sighed, "Well...it's not like that other ship's goin' anywhere either."

"Uh...Chiro?" Jinmay spoke up as she looked out a large window, "You sure about that?"

Chiro and Otto went over to where Jinmay was looking, and they gasped at the sight of the ship reconstructing itself. "Right...shoulda figured...just like the Citadel of Bone." the Hyperforce leader growled, "We don't have a couple of days Otto, I don't even know if we have a couple of _hours, _get the Foot Crusher up and running so we can chase this guy down if we have to."

"Aye aye Chiro." a pair of welding goggles sprouted out from underneath the green monkey's helmet, and the mechanic immediately got to work on Nova's Foot Crusher.

"What do you want _me _to do Chiro?" Jinmay asked, eagerly awaiting orders.

"Besides be here for me so I don't go insane?" Chiro relinquished a small smile, and the robot girl smiled back, "You and I are gonna head to the Bridge to see if we can't get a scan on whatever's in that ship, for all we know we might be chasing a decoy."

As the couple rushed back to the Bridge, Gibson was busy preparing to do some delicate work. "Ok Nova, I'll need to shut you down momentarily so I can replace your energy cell, seeing as this is the second time it's begun to leak, it stands to reason that a replacement is required."

Nova rolled her eyes, "You don't have to explain it Gibson, it's not like this is the first time something like this has happened to us, just get it over with."

"Very well." Gibson morphed his hand into the proper tool and placed it into the back of her head, moments later, Nova fell asleep. "Now then, let's get you properly repaired."

"Just make it quick ok?"

Gibson huffed in annoyance, "Sprx, I am a professional, there is no reason for you to be so uneasy." Gibson removed the yellow monkey's energy cell from her back and went to get a new one, "As for _you, you've _been acting out of the ordinary for quite some time."

"What? What're you talkin' about?" Sprx scoffed, "I'm one-hundred percent me, myself and I."

"Hmm, yes..." Gibson replaced Nova's energy cell and then got to work on some of her burned out wiring. "What I mean to say is, you seem even _more _like yourself than normal."

Sprx just scratched his head, "Is your brain shorting out again? _Of course _I'm gonna act like me, I'm _me."_

"No Sprx," Gibson sighed, "How should I put this? You seem to be trying too hard to be who you _normally _are...it's as if you're attempting to hide something from us...what's troubling you so?"

Sprx crossed his arms and scowled, "Even if something _was _bothering me, why would I tell _you?_ I'm not even willing to tell _Antauri."_

Gibson smirked, "Ahh, so we _can_ safely say that something's troubling you."

Sprx shrieked, "You know what? That big brain of yours gets really annoying sometimes."

"But it certainly comes in handy, wouldn't you say?"

Sprx huffed, "Sometimes."

"Sprx, I realize you and I have had our differences, and that will likely never change...but despite all that, I still consider you a brother, and despite evidence to the contrary, I do get concerned when you or _any _of our team is troubled." Gibson closed up the hatch on Nova's back and went to work on Sprx, "Onto the table please."

Sprx obliged and said nothing as Gibson examined his body with his scanner. Finally after a few moments of silence, Sprx spoke up. "How's Nova?"

"She's fine, I've replaced her energy cell and her burned out wires...if I may be so bold Sprx...would I be correct in the assumption that your sudden change in attitude is somehow connected to Nova?"

Sprx hesitated before chuckling weakly, "I don't know why I'm even _considering _telling you this..." the red monkey sighed as Gibson continued his examination, "I just...I really care about her Gibson."

"As do I, I consider Nova my sister just as I consider you my brother." Gibson took a screwdriver to the pilot's shoulder, "You jarred your shoulder loose in the crash."

"Oh, thanks." Sprx sighed again, "I don't think you get it...I care about Nova..._more _than that."

Gibson smiled, "That must be the worst kept secret of all time Sprx."

Sprx's jaw dropped and his face soon morphed into a scowl after that, "Knew I never should've said anything." he grumbled.

The scientist's smile never faded however, "Tell me Sprx, if you adore her as deeply as you claim, why do you not simply act on those feelings you harbor? Logically you should be attempting to grow closer to her instead of endeavoring to keep her distant with unnecessary bravado like you've _been_ doing...and then when you _do _allow your passion to get through, you begin to try even more intensely to conceal it."

"I'm _done _talkin' to you Brainstrain." the red primate replied, "Besides, it's not like I understood half of what you said anyway."

"Apologies, I admit I can be rather loquacious at times." When Sprx looked at him in confusion, he sighed, "I show off my vocabulary too often."

"Heh, _I'll _say."

"My point is, don't hide your true feelings from her Sprx, she _knows _how you feel, _you _know how _she _feels, all that was revealed in the immediate aftermath of your deliverance from the Fire of Hate."

"It's not that simple." Sprx sat up and shook his head, "If I try to get too close she'll reject me like she always does..." Sprx looked at his hands, "And who can blame her? She deserves better than anything I could offer...I love her, and if I have to admire her from a distance, then I will..."

"I see." Gibson turned his back on the red monkey and smiled discreetly, "I'll return shortly, I have to go and get something." the blue primate walked out, leaving Sprx alone.

"Take your time...we're not going anywhere." Sprx laid down on the bed with his arms crossed behind his head, "Nova." he sighed and closed his eyes.

"Did you really mean all that?"

Sprx screeched in shock at the sound of the unusually timid voice. He sat up suddenly and was greeted by a pair of awe-filled pink eyes. "Uh-uh-mean? Mean? Mean what?"

"What you said." Nova hopped off the table and walked over to the red monkey, "About you loving me..."

"Well, ya know...I was just sayin'...I mean it's..." After failing to think of anything that could get him out of his own mess, the red monkey slumped and looked down to the ground, "Yeah...I meant it."

Nova smiled softly and got on her tiptoes to kiss the pilot's cheek, "Thank you Sprx."

Sprx rubbed the spot where he had been kissed and shook his head, "Why do ya do that Nova?"

Nova reeled back, "Do what?"

"I mean one minute you beat the living daylights outta me like you hate me, and then the next you...well...do _that." _the red monkey looked up at the ceiling as if he was searching for answers before looking back at Nova, "I mean, how's a monkey supposed to know what to do? Do you like me or not?"

Nova took Sprx's hand and squeezed it, "I _do _like you Sprx, I already _told _you that...it's just...this is _totally _new territory for me...what I feel for you is something I can't even put into words, or if I could I probably couldn't pronounce them unless I was as smart as Gibson or something..."

Sprx gazed into the yellow monkey's pink eyes, "Then at least answer _this..._what is it you want me to do? Do you want me to be close to you, or do you want me to give you your space so ya don't clobber me? 'Cause right now I'm about as confused as Otto during one of Antauri's philosophy lessons."

"I...don't really know." Nova admitted, "Just for curiosity's sake...what is it _you _want?"

"Me?" Sprx chuckled weakly, "What _I _want...all I want is _you." _Sprx looked down at the floor, "You know...how Chiro and Jinmay act with each other right?" When Nova slowly nodded at him, he took a deep breath and continued, "Well that's what _I _want...I wanna be able to...hold you close to me...'cause you're really special to me Nova, I mean all those other girls I've ever hit on, oh yeah, they were cute, some of them were total _babes! _But...none of them could fill the place I have in my heart for _you..._thing is...you're still a warrior, and as much as I try to give you that respect...I can't help but see you more as a girl than anything else, because of how I feel for you..."

"Sprx..."

"I-I know, I know...I'm talkin' outta my tail right now." Sprx took his hand back and turned away from the yellow monkey, "Just forget I said anything ok?"

"...no."

"What?"

"No...I don't _wanna _forget."

Sprx had to do a double take as he looked back at the warrior he knew as Nova...if he didn't know better, he'd say the furious fighter was actually _crying. _"You don't...you don't _wanna _forget?" he asked more to himself than her.

Nova slowly shook her head before glomping the now thoroughly stunned red primate, "That...was the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me." her voice was beginning to crack, which was very unlike her of course. "No one's ever told me anything like that before, I _always _get compliments on how good a fighter I am, but you're the only one who's ever told me something like _that _before."

Nova was sobbing in his arms at this point, and to say the least, Sprx's computer-enhanced brain was struggling to compute what was going on. Nova...was _sobbing..._in his arms, it just didn't add up, "Nova...what's the matter? Why are ya crying?"

The yellow primate pulled back to stare him in the eyes, with tears leaking out from behind her robotic pink eyes, "It's just that the others forget sometimes that I'm a girl on top of being a warrior...it feels so good to know that someone sees me as a girl, not just a powerful fighter."

"I've _always _seen you that way..."

"I know that now...being who I am means I tend to hit first and talk later, and that comes with its own set of problems...thing is...I'm afraid that if I let my guard down for even a second, I'll look weak, and to me that's even worse than being considered just a fighter."

"You're anything _but _weak," Sprx wiped her tears with his thumb, "You're probably the strongest girl I've ever met, and not just because of how good you are on the battlefield, it's also because of who you are on the inside...I've gotten a look at the _real _NOVA-52, and I get the feeling she's more than just a hotheaded warrior..." he smirked a little as he quoted her previous words, "Now my question is...why're ya tellin' me all this?"

"Because you need to know about both sides of me, and why you only get to see the harsh and aggressive side of me whenever I'm around other people. After hearing you talk to Gibson, I was starting to wonder if I should tell you why I do what I do, and now after talking to you, I realize it isn't fair to keep getting your hopes up and then smashing them to pieces the next time I say something mean or hit you for saying something stupid."

"I see..." Sprx began to sweat a little, "Nova, I wanna do something...you promise not to clobber me?"

"Uh...maybe?"

"Close enough." Taking the yellow primate's face into his metal hands, he slowly closed the gap between them and felt Nova shudder as he got closer, "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"N-No..." she breathed, "Don't stop, please."

Taking her words to heart, Sprx softly pressed her lips against his own, and for the first time ever they shared a joyous experience neither primate was bound to forget any time soon. When they finally parted, Sprx smiled softly at her, "Now _that..._was amazing."

"It was." Nova hummed in response, "Just...don't get too used to it, remember I still have to keep a tough as nails reputation...even this isn't enough to turn me into a rainbows and candy kinda girl."

"Hey, I can live with your abuse, since now I know for sure you don't mean it. All I ask for is a little compensation every once in a while."

Nova smirked, "I knew it'd only be a matter of time before you said something cheesy."

"Hey, I gotta be me." Sprx shrugged.

"And _you _should be _you _Nova."

Sprx and Nova's heads whipped around, and they screeched in shock at the sight of Gibson smiling at them in the doorway, "What're _you _doin' here?!" the red monkey exclaimed.

"This _is _the recovery ward is it not?" Gibson replied, "By the way Nova, the entire team is well aware of your 'other side' as you so eloquently describe it, the only one who is convinced that you're nothing more than an angry female simian looking to obliterate a target is yourself."

"You were listening in on us?!" Nova snarled.

"Of course, who do you think activated you so you could listen to mine and Sprx's conversation? I mean really, this whole situation of both you and Sprx propelling yourselves into unnecessary danger needed to cease and desist as soon as possible, and logic dictated that the only way for that to happen was if you two finally stopped this ludicrous song and dance routine of trying to mask your emotions and truthfully pour your hearts out to each other...so now the team gets two of their most important members back, and you get to enjoy a new aspect of your lives together without needing to worry about anyone's opinions other than your own. Courtesy of Mr. Hal Gibson, science officer and relationship counselor extraordinaire." With that said, Gibson took a bow and awaited the thanks he felt he was due.

"Gibson," Nova activated her fists and pounded one into her palm, "I'm giving you 'till the count of three to make tracks before I bash your head in."

Gibson sweat-dropped and put his hands up in defense, "Now wait just a moment, I was trying to help you!"

"One."

"Really now Nova, is this absolutely necessary?"

"Two!"

"A-Alright! Alright! My apologies, just don't hit me!" Gibson cringed as Nova reeled back her fist to bang him into a wall, but then he heard a different banging coming from inside the recovery ward, and the three monkeys stopped to listen for the noise, "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah...it's coming from..." Nova turned around and her eyes widened at what she saw, "I don't believe it!"

Meanwhile on the Bridge, Chiro was busy trying to get a reading on the entity inside the bone ship, "This really is more of a Gibson or Otto job...something about that ship is keeping the basic scan from working." he said in frustration.

"Maybe you're going about this the wrong way," Jinmay replied thoughtfully, "Maybe you should try communicating with the thing, ask it for terms of surrender, then at the very least you could get a decent look at what it is."

"There's an idea, I'll try it." Chiro activated the communications console, "The hailing frequencies are open...this is the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce, we offer you this one chance to surrender to us or be destroyed!"

"Now let's see if we get a response." Jinmay commented. Moments passed, then the viewscreen came alive with the image of the creature who was apparently inside the spaceship made of bone, "What...is _that?" _the robot girl gagged.

The creature was seemingly made entirely of black, dripping ooze, with angry yellow eyes that seemed to see right through them. "I dunno, but at least we know we're not chasing nothing." Then the creature began growling at them, shaking its globby fist in anger, "I get the feeling that whatever it's saying, it's got nothin' to do with surrender." Chiro said.

Then the transmission cut off just as the final piece of the ship was repaired, and it slowly began charging up its thrusters, "It's getting ready to take off!" Jinmay exclaimed.

Chiro activated his communicator, "Otto, is the Foot Crusher ready to be reconnected to the robot yet?!"

"Not yet Chiro, I'm almost done reconfiguring it though, but it'll take longer to get the thruster up and running again!"

"Never mind the thruster, just get the Foot Crusher back on the robot, this thing's getting ready to make a break for it!" Chiro deactivated his communicator and slammed his hands into the control panel in frustration as he stared angrily at the viewscreen, "There's gotta be a way to make sure we don't lose track of it!"

"Maybe _I _can help!"

Chiro and Jinmay turned around at the familiar voice, and their eyes lit up when their suspicions were proven right, "Captain Shuggazoom, you're ok!" Chiro exclaimed.

The old man walked up to them, and actually stood tall as he opened his helmet, evidently his beard had been trimmed as it no longer simply rolled out of his helmet like it used to. "I dunno what Gibson did for me, but I feel like a new man!"

"You look a lot stronger Captain, and the trimmed beard's a good look for you." Jinmay said with a smile.

"Why thank you Jinmay." the old superhero nodded.

"It was simple really," Gibson appeared with a now apparently recovered Sprx and Nova, "During his time in the tank I injected his body with rejuvenating supplements that replaced the minerals lost in human bone over time and reversed some of the shrinkage and depletion of his muscle fibers, not to mention strengthening his circulatory and nervous systems so that they're more responsive."

"So basically you gave him a steroid that made him feel young again." Sprx smirked.

Gibson scowled at the red monkey, "Steroid?! Absolutely not, anabolic steroids are simply a synthesized version of testosterone which is meant only to increase muscle mass without even building the ligaments and tendons around them, not practical at all! And that's not even counting all the possible side effects of injecting such wretched chemicals into your bloodstream!"

"Ok ok, I get it!" Sprx put his hands up in placation, "Sheesh, don't be so sensitive."

"Ya did good Gibson," Chiro then looked up at Captain Shuggazoom, he was still as old as ever, but he seemed to be full of life, "It's good to have you onboard Captain."

"It's good to be here...now then, we got ourselves a situation here and I think I'm just the man you need for the job!" Captain Shuggazoom replied.

"What'd you have in mind?" Jinmay asked.

Captain Shuggazoom stepped forward, "My idea was that I'd attach a homing beacon onto that ship, you can't do it because you're the ones who know how to pilot the robot, and I'll need you to distract this thing so it doesn't spot me trying to attach the beacon."

"And that'd make sure we don't lose it no matter where it goes! Great idea Captain!" Nova exclaimed.

"And possibly the only option we have available to us," Gibson stepped up to the control panel and began pressing several buttons, "As the Citadel of Bone once did, this ship is thwarting our attempts to scan and gather information on it, but a homing beacon on the _outside _of the ship shouldn't be affected."

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's do it!" Sprx exclaimed.

Minutes later, Captain Shuggazoom was let out of the Super Robot via a hatch in the robot's back, "Ok Monkey Team, just make sure that whatever it is doesn't see me comin'!"

"No problem," Chiro replied, "Nova, open hailing frequencies, we're gonna keep this thing busy by keeping its mind on something other than its sensors."

"On it Chiro!" Nova pressed a button and the viewscreen once again showed the disgusting creature, "Oh...that's gross." the yellow monkey commented.

"I'll say, kinda looks like someone sneezed after breathing in kerosene for three hours." Sprx added.

"That's _more _gross!" Nova gagged.

"This is your last warning, surrender to us immediately!"

The creature again began growling unintelligibly, which provoked Gibson to take action, "Activating hyper translators..." despite the translator's influence however, the sounds still came in without any sort of meaning. "How is this possible? Could our communications have been damaged in the battle as well?"

"Check it out Gibson..." Chiro then whispered into Jinmay's ear, "Make sure Captain Shuggazoom's alright, I'll keep this blob thing busy."

With a nod, Jinmay walked out of the range of the viewscreen and contacted the elderly hero, "Jinmay to Captain Shuggazoom, what's your status?"

"Almost there, just gotta find a place to put this thing that it won't fly off if the ship leaves."

"Please hurry, I dunno how much longer we can stall!"

After a few more moments of walking around, the old man found a place where the cylinder shaped homing beacon could be placed where it wouldn't be in danger of getting shaken off, "I found a hole that it should fit in perfectly," cautiously, Cap. Shuggazoom knelt down to set the beacon. "Gotta give Gibson credit, my joints haven't felt this good since I was in my mid-twenties!"

Unfortunately, the oozing monster had once again cut off the transmission, and the ship now seemed ready to leave. "It's getting ready to jump into hyper boost!" Gibson exclaimed.

Chiro activated his communicator, "Otto, the Foot Crusher?!"

"It's ready Chiro! It just needs to get reattached!"

"Make it happen!" Chiro switched frequencies, "Cap. Shuggazoom, you gotta come back before..." Unfortunately it was too late, the ship took off into the cosmos with the fading cry of Cap. Shuggazoom following it. "It's too late..."

"Oh no..." Nova murmured in concern.

Suddenly Gibson began chattering, "Wait! He's still alive, I'm picking up a signal from the homing beacon!"

"Way to go Cap. Shuggazoom, we're comin' for ya!" Chiro exclaimed, "Nova, contact Antauri, we've gotta let 'im know what's happening!"

Nova activated the communications console, but after a few moments of trying, all she got was static, "That's weird...I can't get a decent signal."

"Gibson, check it out!" Chiro ordered, "Otto, is the Foot Crusher in place yet?"

Outside, Otto was using whatever power the Foot Crusher had left to reattach it to the Super Robot's leg. "Done and done Chiro, ya want me to start working on the thrusters?"

"Negative, get back up here and start repairing the Fist Rocket, we'll use the hyper boost engines to try and compensate for the Foot Crusher's absence." Chiro shut off his communicator, "Whaddya got Gibson?"

"Curious, according to my readings the communications console is working at optimum efficiency...which leads me to believe that the source of the problem is on _their _end." the scientist replied ominously.

"But that's impossible, Gus said their communications console was state of the art!" Nova exclaimed.

"And how often has that kind of thinking gotten our tails whipped before?" Sprx grumbled with his arms crossed, "Something's not right on Shuggazoom, I know it."

"Then there's only one thing to do, I'll contact Antauri through the Power Primate. Sprx, follow the signal the beacon's giving us, and keep an eye out for Cap. Shuggazoom." Chiro walked into his tube and whisked off to his quarters where he would try to meditate on the Power Primate and contact his mentor.

"What do you suppose is goin' on back there?" Jinmay asked.

"I dunno Jinmay, but if the Amphiboids' communications aren't picking up our signal, it's gotta be something bad." Nova replied as she stared up at the viewscreen, "For now, we've gotta get ready for whatever this thing is that we're facing...which means we gotta be ready for anything...Sprx, power up the engines!"

"Aye aye Nova." with a sly wink directed at the yellow monkey, Sprx activated the engines and chased after the signal being emitted by the homing beacon; the team hoped that their friends were ok back on Shuggazoom, and that the hero who shared their home's name was still alive somehow.  
_

**A/N: So you see what it was I was referring to? I was afraid I was getting too OOC with Nova...she's a bit of a tough character to work with, both literally and figuratively. Nova can be a major tomboy at times and at the same time she's shown signs of being quite feminine, so finding that balance and making it work for Spova purposes is hard to do without getting OOC...I dunno, I really played down what my original idea was gonna be, so I'll let you readers be the judge. In other news Cap. Shuggazoom is back, or is he? And something happening on Shuggazoom is cutting off communications, what could it be? The answers lie ahead. Review please, lemme know how I did.**


	5. Mecha Mania on Shuggazoom

**One day after posting my Knuxikal story, I bring to my readers the next chapter of the War Between the Living and the Dead. I realize it's been pretty slow going up to this point, but believe me when I say it's all necessary. Now we're gonna take a look at what's going on with our favorite robo-monkey...it's time for Antauri to get some of the spotlight. I don't own SRMTHFG, it's characters, or anything else. I do however own my imagination which is allowing me to come up with these ideas. Now then, Readers mobilize!  
**_

"Supaa, Gus, have you ascertained the cause for the communications console's malfunction?" Antauri said as he floated over to the two working frogs.

Supaa came out from underneath the machinery and sighed, "As far as our scans can indicate, all of our systems are working at top efficiency…however I _did _pick up a strange signal that reaches as far as Shuggazoom's atmosphere and perhaps beyond."

Antauri crossed his arms, "Then Skeleton King is doing something to jam our signal…clearly he doesn't want us communicating with the Hyperforce."

"Do you think they're ok out there?" Supaa asked.

Antauri closed his eyes, "I still sense the Power Primate within Chiro, they're still out there, but I sense that something is still amiss."

At that moment, Gus came out from under the console and closed it up, "I've done everything I can, there's just no way to break through that jamming signal."

"Which means we have no way of contacting the Hyperforce as long as that signal is being broadcasted." Supaa added.

The Silver Monkey thought for a moment, "There's still one way. I will contact Chiro through the Power Primate, but I will need some time to meditate on it in order to accumulate the necessary power…I have an assignment for you two, see if you can find a way to pinpoint the source of the signal, once you do, report to me and we'll begin planning something to shut it down."

"Understood." The blue frog nodded and watched the Hyperforce's second-in-command levitate and faze through the roof, "Fascinating." Then the Amphiboid scientist turned his attention to the green frog, "Well Gus, let's get to it."

As Antauri floated through the ceilings and walls of the Amphiboid mecha, he soon found himself in front of a door that led to a room he was sure would fit his needs. He deactivated his fazing power and knocked on the door, "Eldred, may I come in?"

Moments later, the door slid open and the black frog greeted the Silver Monkey with a nod, "Of course Antauri," with a wave of his hand Eldred led Antauri into his room and closed it behind them. "How may I help you?"

"I merely require a private place to meditate on the Power Primate…I sense that something is amiss, especially with Skeleton King apparently taking steps to prevent us from contacting my friends."

"And you wish to use the…Power Primate as you call it, to contact your leader Chiro, correct?"

"Indeed." Antauri nodded, "My thanks Eldred." the Silver Monkey then closed his eyes and folded his metal hands into his lap as he started to glow green with the Power Primate's energy. _"Chiro…Chiro…heed my call, respond."_

What the Silver Monkey never could've expected was that Chiro was attempting the exact same thing in his own quarters, _"Antauri, are you there?"_

_"I am."_

Suddenly Chiro found himself in a green room with his mentor and second-in-command. "Wow, I didn't think that would work to be honest." The Hyperforce leader chuckled sheepishly.

"I fail to understand why you continue to underestimate your skills with the Power Primate." Antauri shook his head, "Never mind, now is not the time to discuss that, there is something you need to be aware of."

"I gotta tell _you_ something too! There's some gross glob of ooze driving that ship we're after, and we almost lost Nova and Sprx trying to fight it."

Antauri crossed his arms, "Most disturbing…I sensed that something wasn't right…"

"They're ok though, and Cap. Shuggazoom finally came to, he's already started helping us, he's attached a homing beacon onto the enemy vessel and we're tracking it across the cosmos…now I just hope Cap. Shuggazoom is still alive when we finally catch up to him."

"I don't understand."

Chiro rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh well…he kinda didn't make it back to the robot in time; he's hanging on for dear life while that ship flies off to wherever it's headed."

"I see." Antauri sighed, "Chiro, I advise you to use extreme caution, the Skeleton King has jammed any conventional means of communicating with you."

The boy shrugged dismissively, "So what? We're communicating _now, _if either of us need to call each other, we just gotta use the Power Primate right?"

"It isn't always that simple Chiro…" suddenly Antauri's form flickered as he winced, "We're under attack! Chiro, be caref…" he never got a chance to finish his sentence as his concentration was disturbed by another explosion.

Chiro's eyes snapped open, and the boy began breathing heavily to try and get his breath back, "Good luck Antauri."

Back on Shuggazoom, Antauri had since recovered from the abrupt removal from his meditation and was rushing to the Amphiboid Bridge with Eldred, "What's happening?!"

"We've got a huge ugly…whatever that is attacking us!" Kyros exclaimed, "Everyone to battle stations!"

As the frogs scrambled to their stations, Antauri stared at the viewscreen and snarled, as he was helpless to do anything against a threat this serious. "He _knew."_

Moments later, the Amphiboid mecha powered up and faced off against their adversary, a huge, bony dinosaur skeleton with a long neck and sharp claws, its neck and spiked back was lined with yellow orbs that seemed to emanate energy, and its two powerful legs were contrasted by its long and spiny arms. "Ugliest thing I've ever seen." Aero commented.

The monster then opened its mouth and spewed a horribly smelling breath attack that pushed the Amphiboid robot a few steps back, "And _that's _the ugliest thing I've ever _smelled! _Maybe we should give it a breath mint!" Gus gagged.

"Supaa, Aero, unleash the rocket punches!" Kyros ordered.

"You got it!" Aero replied, "Let's do it Supaa!"

The two frogs went flying at high speed towards the gigantic dinosaur, but it merely shrugged off the attack like nothing happened, "Looks like it's not gonna be that easy to give these bones some broken bones." Gus groaned.

The creature then wrapped its arms around the mecha's waist, and the orbs on its body began to glow brighter as it generated energy that it transferred from its body as an attack to the robot. "What's happening?!" Xena shouted.

"That thing's zapping all our power away!" Gus replied in horror as he watched the robot's power levels drop on his screen.

"Need some help?" suddenly the creature stopped attacking as it had been grabbed from behind by the Nebutron 9 and tossed aside. "Sorry we're late, it takes all three of us to activate the Nebutron…and _someone _was taking a shower." Johnny scoffed.

_"I _happen to care about personal hygiene, so sue me." Aurora replied in annoyance.

"Never mind, you're here _now, _so let's see what we can do!" Kyros and his frogs piloted their robot so that it gained some distance while the Nebutron took its left flank. "Gus, how's our power?"

"Slowly building back up Kyros, that was some attack though."

Johnny scoffed, "It _looks _a lot tougher than it is, watch this!" the youngest Sun Rider pressed a button on his console, "Activating Nebutron Gatling Laser!" From the orb center of the upgraded Nebutron came twelve gun barrels that immediately unleashed a rapid fire barrage of laser beams that struck the bony creature dead center and made explosions that caused smoke to block their view. "See?" Johnny leaned back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head, "No problem."

"Um…Johnny?" Aurora pointed towards their opponent, and out of the smoke came the roaring dinosaur skeleton with its claws outstretched to attack the Nebutron.

"No way! We _nailed _that thing!" Johnny pressed another button and this time the Nebutron's helmet lit up as it launched a beam of solar-based energy right at the creature's head, and still it had no effect. "Brace for impact!" The creature tackled the Nebutron down to the ground and spewed its horrible breath in the Sun Riders' faces.

"Ugh!" Aurora covered her nose with both hands, "What _is _that?!"

"It would appear this foul creature has forgotten to brush his teeth this morning!" Quasar exclaimed, "Amphiboids, we need your help!"

"I know, I _know!" _Kyros pressed a few buttons before taking back his controls, "Gus, we need that power _now!"_

"We've got enough to fight, but we gotta make sure it doesn't give us another creepy hug!" Gus replied.

"But our energy attacks aren't working, how are we gonna beat this thing?" Xena wondered.

"We'll have to risk getting in close! Amphiboids go!" Kyros and his team piloted their robot so that they were standing over the giant monster that was still attacking the Nebutron, and kicked the dinosaur off of the Sun Riders' battle robot. "You guys ok in there?"

"Our power's a little low, but we're ok." Johnny replied.

"Speak for _yourself," _Aurora replied in a nasally voice as she had plugged her nose, "I don't think I'll _ever _get this smell off!"

"There must be a way to defeat this creature!" Quasar added.

"I think I found a solution!" Supaa sent a transmission image to each of his teammates and also the Sun Riders, "There appears to be a certain bone right above the creature's chest that is acting as a sort of linchpin!"

"I get it!" Johnny realized, "We hit the thing there and it'll fall apart at the seams, right?"

"Precisely!" Supaa confirmed. Unfortunately, the creature unleashed beams of energy from its claws and struck their mecha once more, "The only problem is that every time we get too close, the monster drains our power!"

"And energy attacks aren't working…I got an idea, but we'll need some help." Johnny pressed a button on his console and made a call, "Sun Riders to Mobius Quint, come in Quint!"

Up above Shuggazoom's atmosphere, Mobius Quint's new ship - which he had named the _"New Beginnings" _in honor of his deliverance from Skeleton King's evil long ago - was orbiting the planet in order to ensure that the evil king couldn't send anymore creatures out into space. "This is Captain Quint, what the devil's wrong with communications?! I can barely hear you!"

Supaa cut into the conversation, "This is Supaa of the Amphiboids, apparently Skeleton King has sent out some sort of jamming signal to keep us from contacting the Hyperforce," another crash as the monster struck their mecha. "And we are under attack!"

"What?!" Quint got a somewhat crazed look in his eye, "Why that no-good scumbag…you want me to open fire?!"

The Nebutron unleashed a vicious punch that got the monster to stagger backwards a bit and allowed the Amphiboid mecha to follow up with a sharp kick to its back, "No, I plan on _living_ through this." Johnny scoffed at the pilot orbiting the planet, "We need some aerial support to keep this mutated t-rex from attacking us while we get into position for the finishing blow!"

Quint grinned and his eyes gained a certain gleam to them, "So you need a pilot huh? This is what I've been waiting for!"

"Just get down here before this thing decides it wants to get affectionate again!" Johnny cut off the transmission and got back to the fight, "That guy could use a shot from a tranquilizer gun."

Quint turned in his rotating chair to face his navigator, "Mr. Broussard?"

"Yes Captain?"

"Ready my Star Speeder." Quint got up from his captain's chair and left the Bridge.

"Aye aye sir." The navigator grinned at the man to his left once Quint left, "So whaddya got Jim?"

"The battle will be over in five minutes tops…" the engineer pressed a button on his console and got Quint's speeder into position in the hangar deck. "Quint won't be back for at least thirty…think you can handle both stations for a couple minutes Sam? Nature's calling."

"Go ahead, everything's ok here."

In the hangar deck, Quint was powering up his Star Speeder, a small red craft with two wing-like projections in the front and two rudders in the back. "Here I come Skeleton King!" The hangar deck opened and the Speeder rocketed out and soon found itself entering Shuggazoom's atmosphere. "Now…where are you?" the alarms in Quint's speeder started going off as the sensors picked up the monster's energy signature. "Ah ha! Now I've gotcha…arming Photon Cannons…" Quint pressed a series of buttons and two gun barrels emerged from the front of the Speeder. "Quint to Sun Riders and Amphiboids, I'm getting into position, I'm gonna light this thing up like a sparkler!"

"Cool your jets pal, you're here to _distract_ it, not try to destroy it, energy weapons have no effect on it!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Fine, whatever." Quint cut off the transmission and swooped down for his first run, "Fire!" the Speeder's cannons unleashed a rapid fire barrage of Photon blasts that angered the dinosaur-like monster and had its desired effect as the creature shot into the sky to try and bring Quint down, unsuccessfully though. "I'd say I got its attention, now to let it know that it can't mess with me."

As Quint came back around to assault the boney monster again, the Amphiboid mecha and the Nebutron 9 got into position, "You sure this is gonna work Sunspot?" Kyros asked.

"Absolutely, just hold it down and we'll take care of the rest." Johnny cut off the transmission and got his targeting system online, "Activating Nebutron Super Drill!" The red core in the center of the Nebutron 9's torso slid out of the way and allowed a giant drill to emerge and rev up. "You're getting one shot Quasar, _don't miss."_

Quasar chuckled smugly, "I _never _miss."

Back in the Amphiboid mecha, Kyros and the frogs were maneuvering their robot behind the furious monster which despite all its best efforts couldn't land a hit on Quint's Star Speeder. "Let's hope Sunspot's as smart as his TV counterpart." Kyros grumbled to himself, "Ok team, now!" the Amphiboid mecha grabbed the monster's arms and held them behind its own back, and in response it began to try and suck the mecha's energy away.

"Energy levels failing Kyros!" Gus exclaimed.

"Go Sunspot!" the Amphiboid leader shouted.

The Nebutron 9 sprouted wheels on the bottom of its feet and it rocketed towards the dinosaur with its drill going at full speed. Sure enough, the drill struck in the exact spot they were aiming at and the monster exploded into nothingness. "We did it!" Aurora cheered.

"See? I told you guys it wasn't as tough as it looked." Johnny said smugly.

Then Kyros contacted the Nebutron, "Speak for yourself." He grumbled through static.

"We're ok, but we need to make some repairs." Gus reported.

Now that the battle was over, Antauri spoke up, "You've all done well, but I feel that this battle was not derived from random chance…I suggest we all meet at the Robo-Ape ship and discuss the nature of this battle."

Kyros and Johnny shared one last quick glare before acknowledging Antauri's request. "Fine." They both said simultaneously.

Minutes later, Antauri, Kyros, Eldred, the Sun Riders, Quint, Offay and the Robo-Ape leader were all seated at a giant table. "What's the big deal?" Quint scoffed, "We won didn't we?"

"Did we?" Antauri responded, "Doesn't it seem a little too coincidental that Skeleton King decided to launch an attack at the precise moment I was attempting to contact Chiro?"

"I agree," the yellow Robo Ape said, "It seems likely that this attack was meant to distract you and keep you from speaking to your leader."

"So basically what we're saying is that every time Antauri tries to contact the Hyperforce, Skeleton King's gonna launch an attack to keep him from reaching them?" Aurora figured.

"That's what worries me." Antauri crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "To contact someone through the Power Primate requires great concentration, and even I am not so attuned to its power that I can't be broken out of my meditation…Skeleton King knows this, and he has enough power to be able to sense when I am trying to contact Chiro."

Offay nodded, "Skeleton King clearly doesn't want young Chiro to have access to your knowledge and wisdom Antauri."

Antauri sighed and went into a meditative position, "Perhaps I made an error in judgment when I elected to remain here."

"No Antauri," Offay responded, "You know more than anyone exactly what Chiro is capable of; have faith in your student just as _I _have faith in _mine."_

Antauri opened his eyes and stared at Offay for a few moments before relinquishing a small smile, "Thank you Master Offay."

"Even the mightiest oak cannot withstand the mightiest storm, not without support from those around it." Offay grinned, "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed." Antauri turned to the others, "I want all of you to return to your ships and make whatever repairs are necessary. I still wish to at least make an attempt to contact Chiro, so let me know when all of your systems are fully operational, I don't want to risk provoking Skeleton King when our forces aren't at full strength."

As the Sun Riders, Quint and the Amphiboids walked out, Offay walked up to the Silver Monkey, "Do not despair Antauri, just as we are here to be your support through this storm, young Chiro has his Monkey Team to support him…" Offay turned to head to the guest quarters the Robo-Apes had set up for him, "I shall be in my quarters if you require my assistance."

With a nod to acknowledge, Antauri levitated off the ground and headed back to the Amphiboid mecha, _"Be careful Chiro," _the Silver Monkey thought to himself. _"Skeleton King clearly has something diabolical in mind for you, embrace the Power Primate and trust yourself…and I shall endeavor to do the same."_

Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the cosmos, the Super Robot was chasing after the homing beacon signal that Cap. Shuggazoom had managed to activate just before getting stranded. "Do we still have a lock on the homing beacon?" Chiro asked.

"Affirmative, it's coming in loud and clear." Gibson replied, "Strange however that we seem to be entering a familiar sector of space."

"Keep on it." Chiro shook his head for a moment to try and clear his head of the cobwebs that had seemed to form ever since he'd been jarred from his contact with Antauri. "Geez…I gotta snap out of it."

"Why don't you sit down for a second Chiro? You've been going nonstop ever since we left." Nova suggested.

"Yeah kid, I mean even _we_ gotta take some time to rest, and we're partly powered by _energy cells." _Sprx added, "Take a breather, we'll let ya know if something happens."

"Go on Chiro," Jinmay gently grasped the boy's shoulders and turned him towards his transport tube, "Everything's gonna be alright."

Chiro sighed and looked over his shoulder at the robot girl, "Fine…but the first sign of trouble you call me, got it?"

"We got it Chiro, now go on!" Nova exclaimed.

"Alright." With a weary sigh, Chiro walked into his transport tube and went to his quarters.

"I must say, I find the fact that Chiro was so abruptly cut off from Antauri most disquieting. It gives credence to the theory that something indeed is very wrong on Shuggazoom City." Gibson said with concern.

"Well there's nothing we can do about it out here, and we can't go back until we take out that glob thing. Who knows what it might do if we let it just roam the galaxy?" Nova replied.

"Skeleton King's pullin' out all the stops this time, we're gonna have to bring _more _than our A-game, we're gonna have to bring our A-plus-_plus _game...the kid needs us, and I'm not gonna let 'im down again." Sprx said.

"I'm with you Sprx." Jinmay replied, "In fact, could you do me a favor?"

"Me?"

"Could you come with me to the flight simulators? I wanna get some practice time in before we reach that ship."

Sprx smirked, "So you wanna be able to fight back eh?" Sprx nodded, "Ok kid, I'll show you a trick or two."

"Thanks Sprx!" Jinmay followed Sprx to the transport tubes and they disappeared moments later.

"Well, it's just you and me Nova." Gibson said as he got to work on some minor rewiring.

Nova smirked, "Yeah...that means no one's gonna hear you scream when I start bashing your head in."

Gibson shrieked and stopped his work to back up, "You're _still _upset over that?!"

"Nah." Nova grinned mischievously, "I just wanted to see you squirm."

Gibson narrowed his eyes at the third-in-command and went back to work. "You _should _be grateful."

"I am, believe me. It's just that your method wasn't that great."

Gibson closed up the panel, "I did what I believed would be the most logical course of action."

"Hey, it worked." Nova shrugged, "And thanks Gibson, for everything."

Gibson smiled, "You're quite welcome Nova."

Suddenly the communicators in Gibson's ears activated and extended to receive the incoming transmission, "Hey, is anyone out there?!"

"Oh dear..." Gibson twisted his ear to respond, "We're here Otto, how are the repairs coming along?"

"They're comin' along great...but I'm lonely down here!"

"Sorry Otto...we were dealing with some other stuff." Nova cut in, "I'll send Gibson to help you out now."

"Thanks Nova, you're the best!" Otto severed the transmission.

"You'll _send _me?" Gibson crossed his arms questioningly.

"Hey, do we really gotta go through that whole 'who's third-in-command' thing again? It's not like I'm _ordering _you to do it, but someone's gotta stay here and keep an eye on things, and you'd be way more help to Otto than _me, _so logically," Nova grinned, "You're the monkey for the job."

Gibson smirked, "Logical...flawlessly logical." Gibson walked over to the tubes, "Very well, call if you need anything." Gibson zipped to the cargo hold, leaving Nova by herself.

"Finally, a little peace and quiet." Nova would find that she'd spoken too soon as alarms suddenly went off around the robot, "Whoa, already?!" Nova activated the intercom and spoke into the microphone, "Everyone, to the Bridge, we've got a lock on the homing beacon's coordinates!"

Minutes later the entire Hyperforce was looking intently at the viewscreen. "Hey, that planet looks sorta familiar…" Otto said thoughtfully.

As Nova zoomed in on the locked coordinates, the planet came into focus, "No, it can't be!"

"Chiro, scanners indicate a strong surge of Skeleton King energy, specifically in this area…" Gibson said grimly.

"No…" Chiro gasped.

"I don't understand," Jinmay said worriedly, "Chiro, what's going on?"

"It's the planet Kathori…that monster's attacking Nikita's village!"

**A/N: Cliffhanger! The blob monster has landed on the planet of Kathori, which can only mean one thing...there's gonna be some major catfights! *rim shot*But seriously though, I wanted this chapter to be the final set up before the real action begins...for all you readers who've been hungry to see some battle cries and fighting scenes, they're coming now! Of course, I did try to get something in this chapter, MEGAZORD BATTLE FTW! No seriously, I took some inspiration from Power Rangers for this battle, major props to whoever can tell me which season it's from, and I'll give a trophy to whoever can tell me which EPISODE it is. But since there are SO many Power Rangers seasons out there now, I'll narrow it down a little for you guys. The season in question features the greatest Power Ranger of all time...Tommy Oliver. **

**Now then...Antauri...look, even he isn't immune to emotional turmoil, and like Master Offay said (kinda), even the strongest people need help and support every once in a while. We'll be seeing more of what's happening on Shuggazoom throughout the story. But next chapter, we're gonna be focusing on Chiro and the Monkey Team as they battle it out on Kathori. Are Nikita and the other Kathorians alright? Where's Captain Shuggazoom? Is Chiro gonna be able to handle the stress he's under? The answers lie ahead. If you read this, please review and lemme know what you think!**


	6. Revenge of the Mantadons

**Time for another update, I'll admit I struggled a bit with this one, there's gonna be a few new introductions and a lot more action in this chapter, we're starting to get to the meat of this story. So without further ado, here is the next chapter of the War Between the Living and the Dead. I own nothing except the story.  
_**

"Hyperforce to Capt. Shuggazoom, come in Capt. Shuggazoom!" Chiro's cries through the communications console were going unanswered, "Nothing...do you think he's..."

"Don't think like that Chiro," Jinmay said reassuringly, "I'm sure he's ok, we just gotta go find him!"

"And I bet I know where to start looking!" Nova used the Super Robot's sensors to zoom in on the focus of the dark energy pulsations.

Chiro nodded, "Alright Otto, get us down there, but be careful…we don't know what that blob monster's done to Kathori."

"You got it Chiro, beginning descent!" Otto piloted the robot through Kathori's atmosphere, and unlike last time, they weren't attacked by a swarm of giant insects, "Looks like a bug-free zone…"

"That may be true," Gibson said, "But the closer we get to the coordinates of the Kathorian village, the stronger the dark energy readings become."

"Alright then, we're not gonna risk getting stranded here again. Land the robot and we'll scout the area on foot!" Chiro ordered.

Moments later, the Super Robot landed in a canyon that was high enough to hide its form from any possible threats, and the Hyperforce took off flying with their jetpacks towards the source of the dark energy. "I have a lock on the dark energy source…we should be getting rather close…"

"Uh…Gibson?"

At Sprx's sudden apprehension, Gibson looked up from his scanner and gasped in horror at the sight before him. "I do not believe my eyes!"

Down below them was a giant pile of black ooze, bubbling like it was boiling over with its own evil. "What's happening down there?" Chiro would soon get his answer, as hideous creatures began to spawn from the dark ooze and slowly walk out of it. "It's making Formless?!"

"Wait…something _bigger_ is emerging!" Gibson blanched when he saw exactly what it was. "I…I…I despise bugs." The blue monkey almost passed out from holding his breath for so long; now down below was an absolutely enormous praying mantis-like creature.

"The Mantadons…that lake of ooze is mutating the bugs on this planet again!" Nova exclaimed.

Then the Formless creature climbed onto the back of the green Mantadon and its arms seemed to extend and reach into the Mantadon's head. Suddenly the Mantadon's green coloration became darker and it grew even larger in size as large spikes sprouted from its chest and midsection. "Uh...that doesn't look good." Otto gulped.

Just then, the Mantadon turned and looked directly at them before roaring with fury, "It sees us!" Nova exclaimed.

The Mantadon then opened its mouth and a beam of dark energy came out, "Look out!" Chiro shouted as he and the others flew off in different directions.

"Call me crazy," Sprx spoke up, "But that felt kinda like the same kind of energy that ship hit _me _with!"

"It must be that Formless...it's making the Mantadon _stronger _somehow!" Nova dodged another beam, "Let's take it down before it gets away!"

"You know the drill team! Aim for the torso and whatever you do, _don't _get hit by that beam!" Chiro glanced at his now armored girlfriend, "That goes _triple _for _you _Jinmay, if you get hit by that beam you'll be shut down, so be _extra _careful!"

Jinmay smiled and offered a thumbs-up before going after the Mantadon's weak spot. "Let's see how it likes _this!" _Jinmay extended both arms and aimed her hands at the Mantadon's belly, unleashing a barrage of finger missiles. But much to her shock, the missiles seemed to have no effect, "What? But how?!"

"WHIRLING DESTRUCTO SAWS!"

"BOOM BOOM WAKEUP!"

Otto and Nova took a turn at attacking, but they soon found themselves having to turn back as the spikes that had sprouted from the Mantadon's belly would've impaled them had they kept going. Then it swung its giant forelegs and smashed both monkeys down to the ground. Then once they were down it opened its mouth to fire.

"Move!" Sprx grabbed Nova and carried her out of danger just as Gibson did the same to Otto, "There's no way past those spikes!"

"Then we try a new approach!" Chiro activated his gauntlets and started trying to fly behind the Mantadon, but the creature wasn't letting the Hyperforce leader get a look at its back by any means, "It's trying to hide its back, that's gotta be the answer! Monkey Team, take it out!"

"LASER CRISS CROSS!"

"WHIRLING DESTRUCTO SAWS!"

"LADY TOMAHAWK!"

The blue, green and yellow monkeys all went in to attack the Mantadon's back while Chiro kept the beast occupied, but before they could get there, the Formless creature morphed into a shield of sticky ooze that trapped them upon impact. "Hey, I can't get out!" Nova shouted.

"Me either! This stuff's super sticky!" Otto tried spinning his saws to cut his way free, but all he did was get even more stuck, "And I can't cut my way outta here!"

"This is no ordinary Formless; it seems to have intelligence far beyond the usual monsters we face!" Gibson grunted as he tried to pull out of the ooze.

The gunk was holding on tight, and Chiro was starting to struggle to avoid getting blasted by the super-evolved Mantadon, "These things are smarter than they used to be!"

"Then _I'm _gonna give it a concussion!" Sprx got closer to the monster and unleashed his attack, "This oughta ring your bell! MAGNA-BOLT BEAM SPLITTER!" Sprx launched a barrage of energy bolts at the Mantadon's head, and the creature roared with rage as it slashed furiously at the red monkey and knocked him down to the ground. "Ugh…I think _I _got a concussion."

Luckily, Sprx's attack had the desired effect. Gibson, Nova and Otto were freed from the ooze thanks to the distraction Sprx had provided. "Alright, time for round two!" Otto spun his saws and got the ooze off them as he got ready for another attack.

"No!" Chiro shouted, "Fall back! We gotta regroup and figure out a way to beat this thing!" Just then the Formless reshaped itself to normal and the next thing Chiro knew, he was being fired at.

"Chiro!" the team shouted.

Chiro had raised his shield to block the blast as he had no time to dodge, but the longer the attack lasted the weaker his shield became as it started flickering from the energy drain. "GAAAAHHH!" Finally the shield gave out and Chiro was enveloped by the Mantadon's attack.

"BACK OFF!" Jinmay flew up and activated her electric shield to protect Chiro from anymore damage, but now she was feeling exactly why Chiro had wanted her to be careful; she could feel her power fading. "Team! Stop it!"

"You heard 'er, light 'im up!" Sprx unleashed a magnetic blast at the Mantadon's head just as all the other monkeys chipped in with their own attacks. Once hit, the Mantadon stopped and roared at the monkeys while Jinmay fought to stay airborne. "C'mon, we gotta move!"

Nova grabbed the struggling robot girl while Otto scooped up the now unconscious Chiro, and the team flew off to try and regroup.

Unfortunately, the Mantadon and its Formless jockey had other plans, it spread its wings and chased after the monkeys with its energy-draining beam firing all the way, "This thing's gaining on us!" Nova shouted.

"We can't outrun it!" Otto gasped desperately.

Just before they were overtaken, a red and black figure zoomed by and slashed the unsuspecting Formless in half, and with a pained roar the Mantadon began to shrink until it was back to the form the team was more familiar with. "What the?" Nova said in shock.

Then the figure leaped back up and threw two fire-enveloped weapons at the Mantadon's chest, and seconds later, the Mantadon was gone. "It…destroyed the Mantadon…" Otto gaped.

As the monkeys landed, Gibson reactivated his drills, "Careful, we don't know whether this creature is friend or foe."

The hooded figure walked up to them, its weapons in hand and still flaming. Once it got close enough, its weapons suddenly vanished and it pulled off its hood, revealing what appeared to be a Kathorian, the only difference being its shocking red fur which was slicked back into spikes on its head. "You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks for saving us." Nova replied.

The cat creature scoffed, "That was coincidence, all I wanted to do was take out that Mantadon…it's quickly become something of a hobby for me."

"Well you certainly arrived in the nick of time, are you a Kathorian?" Gibson asked.

"Not exactly." But before the cat creature could explain further, he heard a roar in the distance, "No time to explain, let's get you somewhere safe…ish."

"Safe-ish." Sprx shrugged, "Great."

"It's better than staying _here _Sprx! Chiro's out cold and Jinmay looks almost totally drained," Nova looked at the very groggy robot girl who seemed to be trying extremely hard to figure out what was going on, "We'll go with you…Mister…"

The cat walked past them before looking over his shoulder and smirking, "Kikaido…make sure you remember the name…also, drop the Mister." The cat put his hood back up and rushed off with the monkeys not far behind, "What are you anyway? Never seen anything like you before."

The monkeys were caught off guard by this, "How does he not remember us?" Sprx wondered.

"Yeah…but I don't recognize_ him_ either, maybe he wasn't there?" Otto suggested.

"Aren't you part of Nikita's tribe?" Gibson asked the red cat.

Kikaido suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around with an intense look, "How do you know Nikita?"

"Whoa, take it easy pal!" Sprx put his hands up in a placating gesture, "She's a friend of ours, she's how we found out about the Mantadons in the first place!"

"We helped them save Kathori a while back, didn't they tell you about us?" Gibson added.

Kikaido's eyes grew wider, "It's you…you're the Hyperforce!" Kikaido then heard another roar, albeit farther away this time, "I'll take you to Nikita, maybe you can help us again."

Just then Chiro began stirring in Otto's grip, "Mmmmngh…whuu…whu happen…"

"He clearly needs attention, follow me." Kikaido again began leading the monkeys through the jungle.

Gibson however was growing concerned, "We're getting closer to the Kathorian village, but I'm not picking up any life readings."

"There's a reason for that." Kikaido's voice seemed heavy with sorrow.

Once they reached where the village was supposed to be, the monkeys gasped in horror at the sight they were greeted with. The Kathorian village had been completely and utterly destroyed, there were even some dead bodies underneath all the rubble as well as lifeless piles of ooze, acting as a sign of the intensity of the battle that had taken place. There was smoke coming off of whatever buildings were left somewhat intact and several divots in the ground where the Mantadons had apparently fired. "Kikaido...what happened?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"The Mantadons and those skeleton creatures controlling them arrived here only a few hours ago...we tried to fight 'em off...but there were too many and they were too strong." Kikaido shook his head as he kneeled over a half-burned corpse, "Poor guy, never saw it comin'."

"I am going to be abominably ill…" Gibson's blue hue was beginning to take on a sickly shade of green, so the monkey landed and got on his hands and knees to try and regain his composure; the smell of death was lingering in the air, and it wasn't being nice to the scientist at all. "A deceased Vreen in no way compares to this." He panted as he tried to keep himself from vomiting.

Kikaido motioned for the team to follow him into one of the buildings that had more or less survived the attack of the Mantadons. "Put 'em on the tables, I'll keep an eye out for Mantadons." Kikaido took a step outside before looking over his shoulder, "Lemme know when Chiro and your other friend are up and about, I have to get to Nikita A.S.A.P." Before anyone could respond, the cat walked out.

"Sheesh," Sprx scoffed, "First he acts like he doesn't care about anything, then all of a sudden he's more intense than Gibson during one of his science projects."

"I won't dignify that with a response." Gibson stated absentmindedly as he looked Chiro over, "He's alright, but his gauntlets have been completely drained."

"What about Jinmay?" Otto asked.

Gibson turned his attention to the robot girl, whose system had finally shut down due to lack of power, "She needs a recharge, but we're not exactly in a position to give her one at the moment."

"Why not? We can use _this!" _Otto revealed that he was in possession of a spare energy cell, "I had a feeling this would come in handy!"

"Well done Otto!" Gibson took the energy cell and morphed one of his hands into a screwdriver, "Now if I can recalibrate this energy cell to drain its energy into Jinmay…adjust this, reverse this…ahh, there we are!" Gibson opened up Jinmay's vest and opened the pink heart on her chest and placed the energy cell into the slot. "This should just take a few moments."

Just then, Chiro's eyes began fluttering wildly as his consciousness finally returned to him, "Oh man…what happened?"

"You ok kid?"

"Sprx…" Chiro slowly sat up and held his head, "What hit me?" Suddenly Chiro's eyes widened as the memory of what happened came to him, "Jinmay! Where's Jinmay?!"

"Easy Chiro," Nova said soothingly, "Jinmay's fine, she just got her energy drained, Gibson's recharging her now."

"She saved me…" Chiro swung his legs to hang over the table and looked around, "Where are we?"

"Uh…this is what's left of Nikita's village." Sprx replied.

"Oh no…we're too late aren't we?" Chiro grit his teeth and closed his eyes, "I can't believe this…"

"You were a little late to stop the Mantadons from destroying the village, but most of the Kathorians made it out safely." Kikaido came walking in, and Chiro immediately hopped off and got into a fighting stance, "Whoa, relax, I'm on your side."

"Who are you?"

"Kikaido, remember the name." the red cat took his hood off, "Your name's Chiro, leader of the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce, the ones responsible for saving Kathori from the Mantadons."

"I don't remember you, where were you when we were fighting the Mantadons back then?"

Kikaido chuckled, "Now that's a story…" Before Kikaido could explain however, another voice spoke up.

"Chiro?"

Hearing the robot girl's voice distracted Chiro as he quickly glanced over to the other table and saw Jinmay beginning to sit up. He then glared at Kikaido, "Stick around; I've got a lot of questions."

Kikaido just shrugged, "That's fine, just do me a favor and try to make it quick, I need to get to Nikita."

Chiro's eyes widened momentarily at the mention of the lavender cat girl they had befriended, but he shook it off and rushed over to Jinmay who had since removed the now dead spare energy cell from her chest and buttoned up her uniform, "You ok?"

"Yeah…" Jinmay shook her head and rolled her neck a few times before getting back up, "Let's go get those Mantadons." Jinmay tried to armor up, but in making the attempt she got lightheaded and fell back against the table, "Whoa…_that's _not normal."

"Yes, well…the spare energy cell had enough to recharge you to the point of reactivation; however there wasn't enough to allow you to activate your battle mode." Gibson explained.

Jinmay frowned and crossed her arms, "Well that's just great, _now _what?"

"We could summon the Super Robot; it could take out those Mantadons, no sweat!" Sprx suggested.

Chiro shook his head, "No, these Mantadons are way stronger than we're used to, and it took only _seconds _for them to drain the robot the_ first _time we were here. If we tried to call the robot, I doubt it'd even make it here before it got swarmed by those bugs."

"Yeah, they were tough!" Otto added, "Every time we tried something it found a way to block it! Good thing Kikaido showed up or we woulda been goners."

Chiro was surprised at this and he looked over to the red cat who had his arms crossed nonchalantly, _"You _saved us?"

Kikaido shrugged, "Any friend of Nikita's is a friend of mine...plus, the fact that you can help us save Kathori again doesn't hurt."

"That's the second time you've brought up Nikita, where is she?" Chiro asked with some suspicion.

"With the other Kathorians, I'll take..." Kikaido suddenly stopped talking and crouched as he tried to listen for a sound he'd just heard.

"What is it?" Jinmay asked.

"Shh!" Kikaido's ears were standing at attention, then his weapons suddenly appeared out of nowhere and he shoulder tackled Chiro just as a giant claw came through what was left of the roof, "More Mantadons," He looked down at Chiro who was now underneath him from the tackle, "You guys are supposed to be the ones who saved Kathori? It's time you proved it!" Kikaido quickly got up and leaped through the roof with his now flaming weapons in front of him. "Burn!"

Chiro quickly got up to join the battle, "Stay down Jinmay. Hyperforce GO!" The monkeys flew into the air while Chiro ran outside, leaving Jinmay to watch from the sidelines. "CHIRO SPEARO!" Chiro launched a lightning javelin at the Mantadon's belly, and the giant insect roared just before vanishing, "Nothin' special about _these _guys, just take 'em out the old fashioned way!"

"Good! I need to break something!" Nova activated her fists and flew up to another incoming Mantadon, "TORNADO HAMMER!" With her arms stretched out in front of her, Nova flew right through the Mantadon's belly and destroyed it. "Sprx, on your six!"

Sprx turned around and was instantly greeted by a roaring green insect that had its claw reared back to strike, "Nice try freak, MAGNA-TINGLER BLAST!" the red monkey managed to get the first hit, and the Mantadon vanished seconds later. "Thanks Nova!"

Nova gave a thumbs-up before heading towards another angry mantis. She easily dodged its beam and punched a hole into its stomach, and once it disappeared she got a view of something she definitely didn't wanna see. "Team, we got Formless incoming on my nine and eleven!"

"If they get to those Mantadons we're toast!" Otto exclaimed before dodging another blast.

"I'll handle them!" Gibson flew down to attack, but he was met by another angry Mantadon, "Or maybe not." He gulped.

"Outta the way!" Kikaido tackled Gibson in midair just before the blue monkey would've been enveloped by the energy draining blast, "We can't go after those creatures with all these Mantadons around!"

Seeing that the situation was close to becoming critical, Jinmay growled and leaped out of her hiding place and ran towards the incoming Formless army, which did not go unnoticed by the leader of the Hyperforce, "Jinmay, what are you doing?!"

Getting into a fighting stance, the robot girl looked into the sky behind her where Chiro was fighting a Mantadon, "I might not be able to power up, but I still have Nova's training! I'll give these freaks a run for their money!" Just as she finished talking, a sword came slashing down towards her head, but she easily dodged it and punched a hole through the Formless's chest with her formidable robot strength. "Who else wants some?!"

"She's got some serious spunk." Kikaido chuckled as he slashed through the chest of another Mantadon, but then he was struck down by one that had caught him off guard, and moments later he was surrounded by three giant insects, "This doesn't look good."

"Hang on Kikaido! ENERGY SAW STRIKE!" Otto launched several saws made of energy at the Mantadon's surrounding the red cat, and moments later they vanished with an anguished roar. "You alright?"

"Never better." Kikaido used one of his weapons to help himself up, and then looked around to survey the situation. The other monkeys were holding their own against the Mantadons, but he could see the girl beginning to struggle against the numbers she was facing, "Get your team ready to take off, we need to regroup with the Kathorians!"

Otto was stunned, "But…what about…"

"Never mind them, they'll just keep coming!" Kikaido exclaimed, "Now go!"

Otto took off flying, slicing through another Mantadon's belly on his way. "Chiro!" he got to the Hyperforce leader who had just thrown another lightning bolt at the head of an incoming Mantadon. "Kikaido says he wants us to clear outta here!"

"He wants us to _run away?!" _Nova had overheard what Otto said, "I don't think so! We can take these guys!"

"No, he's right!" Chiro could see that they were fighting a losing battle; they may have had their powers this time around, but this time the Mantadons had numbers on their side, every time they destroyed one another would appear, and that wasn't counting the Formless army that Jinmay was singlehandedly facing. "There's too many for now, we need reinforcements!"

"Glad you see it my way!" Kikaido leaped up and threw his two flaming weapons at a horde of Mantadons, and they sliced through them like a hot knife through butter. Then they returned to him like boomerangs and he caught them before pointing the Hyperforce in the correct direction, "Out that way you'll find where the Kathorians are hiding out, I'll stay here and buy you some time!"

"Alone? You'll be killed!" Chiro exclaimed incredulously.

"Nah, I can handle these punks," Kikaido chuckled, "Long enough for your team to escape at least. Go! I'm right behind you!"

Chiro's face took on a determined expression and he nodded at the bright red cat. "Hyperforce, retreat!" Chiro swooped down and grabbed Jinmay bridal style just before a significantly larger Formless could take a swing at her, "We're outta here!"

As the Hyperforce flew off, Kikaido frowned slightly as he saw what he was facing, "Looks like I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew." Gripping his two unique weapons tightly in his hands, the cat broke into a sprint, "Take out the small fries before going for the big fish!" He extended his arms to the sides and ran between the skeleton-like creatures that were marching two-by-two, slashing them in half before they could even notice what was going on, "These guys aren't all that smart by themselves." he smirked, but then he noticed that one Formless had managed to get by and it had gotten a hold of one of the Mantadons. "Uh oh." Sure enough, the Mantadon began to grow bigger, spikes emerged from its chest and belly and its green coloration became noticeably darker, "They're _both _stupid by themselves...but _together..._we have a problem." Seeing that the situation had become too much and the Hyperforce had safely escaped, Kikaido decided it was time for him to go as well. The cat seemed to burst into flame as he summoned a wall of fire that confused even the enhanced Mantadon, and he quickly escaped through it. "Deal with that for a while." With that done, Kikaido rushed off towards the area where the Kathorians were hiding, hoping against hope that the war hadn't already been lost with this battle.

"Gibson, any life readings?" Chiro asked as they flew through the sky in the direction Kikaido had pointed them in.

"I'm picking up several within what appears to be cave-like structures approximately 523.82 meters away...it would appear we've finally found the Kathorians!"

"Look!" Otto pointed into the distance and spotted the caves Gibson was talking about, "Let's hurry!"

"I hope Kikaido's ok." Nova said with concern.

"Don't worry about him," Sprx shrugged, "I know his type, he's a survivor!"

"Let's hope you're right Sprx." Chiro looked down and motioned for the team to land in front of the largest cave, and he put Jinmay down just as his own feet touched solid ground.

"Thanks for the lift."

Chiro took a second to grin at the robot girl before getting back to business, "Hello!" he shouted into the cave, "Nikita! It's me, Chiro! Are you there?!" the echo the cave gave off seemed to go on forever, but no response came back. "Nothing. Gibson, you sure about those life readings?"

Taking a second look at his scanner, the blue scientist nodded at his leader. "Affirmative, and now that we've gotten closer; I can safely say that these life readings indeed match those of the Kathorians. They're around here somewhere."

"But why are they hiding from _us?" _Otto wondered.

"They may be hiding from _everything." _Jinmay said, "And I can't blame them for that."

"Me either, those Mantadons were no joke, and this time we _had _our powers to help out!" Sprx added.

"We won't let those Kathorians who died die for nothing. We're gonna find a way to destroy 'em, and save this planet! Once and for all!" Chiro said determinedly with a clenched fist, "Let's find Nikita, we gotta talk to her if we're gonna pull this off." Chiro turned around to continue searching for the Kathorians when he heard a loud beeping noise.

"Wait Chiro!" Gibson exclaimed, "My scanner's picked up a communicator signal!"

"Are you saying what I _think _you're saying?!" Jinmay asked hopefully.

"Yes, I think we've found Capt. Shuggazoom! He's somewhere inside this cave!" Gibson said.

"But why didn't he answer?" Otto wondered.

"Maybe he _couldn't…" _Sprx said grimly.

"Well if he needs help, we'll know soon enough." Chiro replied, "Headlamps on team."

Lights rose from the top of the monkeys' helmets, and Jinmay raised her pointer finger to the side of her head and her eyes suddenly began glowing pink. "Night Vision activated…you look good in pink Chiro." The robot girl giggled.

Chiro rolled his eyes good-naturedly before following the four monkeys into the cave with Jinmay watching his back. "Whaddya got Gibson?"

"We're quite close…in fact; we should be right on top of him right about…now!" The monkeys looked up, and their lights shined on an unconscious Captain Shuggazoom, hanging by his wrists held by metal shackles on the wall.

"Capt. Shuggazoom!" Chiro exclaimed in shock, "Otto, get 'im down!"

"On it!" Activating his saws, the green simian leaped up and cut through the chains holding the old man up, and Jinmay rushed over to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Is he alright?" Jinmay asked worriedly as she gently laid him down for Gibson to examine.

Gibson used his scanner to get a closer look at the condition of the elderly superhero, "He's alright, he was simply knocked unconscious from the looks of things, no signs of a concussion or any other major injuries."

"What _I _wanna know is why he was hung up like a glorified picture frame in the first place." Sprx said thoughtfully.

"Shh!" Chiro suddenly hissed. After a few moments, he gestured his head towards the ceiling at Jinmay.

With a nod, Jinmay slowly looked towards the ceiling, and with her pink night vision she spotted a figure in a brown hood clinging to the ceiling, watching them intently. "You know Chiro," she said as naturally as she could, "It's kinda weird we haven't run into any Kathorians yet isn't it?"

"Yeah it kinda is." Chiro replied. Then the Hyperforce leader quickly turned around and threw a lightning bolt towards the ceiling, and the light that was momentarily given off by the spear revealed the creature watching them. The figure leaped away and managed to tackle Chiro in the dark, "Get off me!"

"You heard 'im!" Sprx fired a magnetic blast at the attacking figure, but the figure saw it coming and leaped off just before the attack reached it, which left Chiro to get hit instead, "Whoops, sorry kid."

"No problem." Chiro wheezed before falling onto his back, his hair now even spikier from the electricity.

"Otto, incoming at nine 'o'clock!" Jinmay exclaimed.

The green monkey turned to his right and flashed his light in the face of the figure, who was momentarily blinded as it shielded its face from the light, "Time to see what's under that hood!" Otto rushed forward and sliced the hood in half with extreme precision, making sure that the figure was unharmed by his attack. When he turned around, he was greeted by a light-grey cat with blue eyes, "Wait a minute, you're a Kathorian!"

"Yes, and _you _are trying to free the creature responsible for all our troubles!" The cat leaped up to attack Sprx this time.

"I don't think so kitty!" Sprx warmed up his magnets to fire.

"WAIT!" Otto shouted and got in the line of fire, his arms spread out in both directions in order to keep Sprx and the Kathorian away from each other. Then once the angry cat landed on his feet, Otto turned to face the Kathorian who was about the same size as he was. "You look familiar…" Otto looked into the bright blue eyes of the Kathorian, then down at the necklace it was wearing, and his eyes widened in realization when he recognized exactly what that necklace was, "It _is _you! I can't believe it!"

The Kathorian raised an eyebrow in confusion, "You claim you know me…how can this be?"

"You were probably too young to really remember." Otto figured. The green mechanic took a metal bit off of his tail and handed it to the Kathorian, "Here, maybe _this'll _jog your memory."

The Kathorian took the small piece of metal from Otto, and suddenly its eyes widened as it had a realization of its own. "My friend…you're the outsider friend I made!"

"Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" Sprx scratched his head in confusion.

"Don't you get it?" Otto replied, "This is the little kitten that I made friends with the _last _time we were here!"

"Looks like he's not so little anymore." Nova said with a smirk.

"Why're you attackin' us? We're here to help!" Otto exclaimed in bewilderment.

The young cat's smile faded into a neutral expression, "You're trying to free that outsider, all of our problems started when _he _arrived!" the cat snarled, pointing an accusing finger at the elderly man.

"You've got it all wrong kid, he's on _our _side!" Sprx tried to explain, "He was tryin' to help us when the _real_ problem got away from us, and he wound up getting stuck with it."

Just then, Capt. Shuggazoom began to stir, and the old hero put a palm to his head, "Ohhhh...did anyone get the license plate on that space truck?"

"How d'ya feel Captain?" Chiro asked.

"Like I got hit on the head with a club."

"Uh well..." the grey cat chuckled sheepishly, "I _did _hit him on the head with a club."

"You!" Capt. Shuggazoom exclaimed, "You're the one who knocked me out!"

"Yes...sorry about that." the young Kathorian scratched the back of his neck, "I am Katoro, I was trying to help fight against the Mantadons and I found your friend wandering around. I realized I'd never seen him before and so I thought he might have been the cause of our problem. I suppose I was wrong."

"Don't worry about it," Otto waved his hand dismissively, "You're still young, you made a mistake, that's all!"

"Well now that this little misunderstanding's been resolved, I don't suppose _you _could lead us to the Kathorian tribe?" Gibson asked.

"I can." Katoro nodded, "Follow me." After heading back to the cave entrance, the young Kathorian cautiously peeked his head out to make sure the coast was clear. "No Mantadons in sight, let's hurry!" Katoro rushed over to a smaller cave and motioned for the Hyperforce to follow, "In here!"

Once they entered the small cave, Katoro looked around once more. "Are you sure you're not lost kid?" Sprx said skeptically, "There's _no way _that your _whole tribe _could fit in here, it barely looks big enough to hold all of _us." _Sprx was proven wrong when the light-grey cat smirked and pushed a large rock off of a hole that was covered up by it, "Well…I stand corrected."

"As usual." Nova teased with a smirk.

"Down here." Katoro led the Hyperforce down the hole, and once they were all safely inside the tunnel, the young cat moved the hollow rock back over the hole. "We've had to retreat to our emergency underground shelter; once those skeleton-like creatures merge with the Mantadons, they become much smarter judging from what little we've been able to figure out about them…so we've had to make sure to stay one step ahead." Katoro at last led the team to a gigantic cavern with torches lit all around, the brown rock acting as the walls, ceiling and floor glowing eerily in the light of the fires. "We've managed to avoid them so far, but if we don't manage to figure out a way to destroy the Mantadons soon, our emergency supplies will run out and we'll die of either starvation or dehydration, whichever comes first."

"Katoro…this may seem like a random question…but how old are you?" Jinmay asked.

"Yeah…when we first got here you weren't even old enough to talk, and you were small enough to fit in the palm of Otto's hand…and _now_…you sound like a soldier who's been fighting a war for _years."_ Nova added.

Katoro smiled, "Kathorians mature pretty fast, although I am actually kind of small compared to other Kathorians my age." The grey cat replied, "Ever since you first arrived here on our planet, I wanted to be like you. I wanted to be a hero for my tribe, so I started to teach myself how to fight and learned new things as the months passed. Then another outsider arrived, and he began to teach me new techniques, he's really amazing, I cannot wait for you to meet him!"

The team shared solemn looks with each other, they were certainly proud of the young Kathorian, but somewhat sorrowful that he had been forced to fight a war they felt he was far too young to be a part of. "Hey, where is everyone?" Otto asked.

"Katoro!"

The grey cat flinched at the stern voice calling for him, and his ears drooped when the white-hooded figure walked up to him, a long sword at his side. "Yes Tikudo?"

"You know it's not safe for you to be out there." The tall Kathorian removed his hood.

"I know, but look at who I found!"

Tikudo took a moment to humor the boy, but when he realized exactly who Katoro was referring to, his eyes widened, "The Hyperforce…"

"It's good to see you again Tikudo." Nova said.

Sprx rolled his eyes discreetly, "Yeah, it's just _great_ to see ya." He mumbled.

Tikudo pretended not to hear the red monkey's sarcasm, his sensitive hearing allowed him to pick up on his words, and he was aware of why he felt the way he did towards him. "I believe you couldn't have come at a better time, the Mantadons have returned, and with strength far beyond what we were prepared for."

"We know." Chiro said with a slight growl, he was still bitter over seeing what the evil insects had done to the Kathorian village. "We'll do everything we can to help." He said determinedly.

"I know you will." Tikudo nodded, "Come, let me show you around our emergency shelter." The dark-grey cat led the team threw the tunnels, and everywhere there were cats crafting weapons to use against their foes. "As you can see we haven't forgotten your training, but in this case it's proven to not be enough."

"These Mantadons are _way _stronger with those skeleton-creatures on top of them; we can't get past their newly-formed armor with our weapons." Katoro added.

"But they're not unbeatable." Nova said, trying to inject some optimism into the conversation, "We ran into another member of your tribe a while back, he managed to beat one of those Mantadons with a surprise attack."

Suddenly Tikudo's ears lowered and the cat snarled, "He is _not _a member of our tribe." Then Tikudo picked up the pace substantially and increased the distance between the others and himself.

"Whoa, sensing a lotta hostility there." Sprx whispered into Nova's ear.

"Yeah…but why is that?" Nova replied with a shrug. Moments later, Tikudo's ears perked up, and he rushed down another corridor with his sword drawn. "Uh oh, I think something bad just happened!"

"Let's move Hyperforce!" Chiro led his team through the tunnel Tikudo had just rushed through, and they found him in a large room with a golden statue, snarling at the black-hooded figure standing in front of it. "No way! How'd he get in here?"

"You _know _this room is off-limits to outsiders Kikaido." The tall grey cat growled.

"Well excuse me for testing out the security for the back door." Kikaido removed his hood and smirked as his two weapons suddenly appeared in his hands, "Besides, why can't we just be friends? After all, I _am _your brother-in-law."

With the exception of Jinmay and Capt. Shuggazoom, every member of the Hyperforce went slack-jawed at what they'd just heard. "No way…" Chiro gasped, "Kikaido…is Nikita's _husband?!"  
__

**A/N: So...yeah...Nikita is married now...just one problem, where is Nikita? A lot of references to her have been made by various characters but we haven't actually seen her yet. I was contemplating whether or not I should make the whole Kathori arc one long chapter, but I figured that with what I wanted to do it would've become way too long. Anyway, some stuff happened. Chiro lost his gauntlets and Jinmay's power's been drained substantially. **

**We also met Kikaido (pronounced "Ki" as in Kid, "kai" as in tie, and "do" as in dough), who some readers may or may not already have picked up on who his character is based on...all depends on if you're a fan of the series that character originally comes from, if you are, you've spotted the hints I dropped. I've made several references to his "weapons", I'll be getting into that more in the next chapter. Also, Otto's kitten has grown up a little and now has a name...Katoro...bleh, I dunno, I couldn't think of anything else more inspired than that. Capt. Shuggazoom is alive and well and ready to help out, which is good because these Mantadons have been seriously beefed up by the Formless, and their numbers are far greater now thanks to the puddle of ooze. But what exactly is that ooze? Why is Tikudo so angry at Kikaido? Where is Nikita? Why am I asking myself questions you all might ask me? The answers lie ahead in the next chapter...**

**Also, if you're looking for another good read, check out "The Curse of Knowledge" by DigiHopeHeart, a suspenseful angst story starring the Hyperforce's science officer: Gibson.**

**I'll try to throw a new read out there whenever I make an update, it's good to help out aspiring authors or just give my readers a read that'll be worth their time. Anyways, see you all next time.**

**PS: To all my Pokemon readers, I promise, the next update I make will be a Pokemon one, I've just got a lot on my plate right now and I'm having trouble getting the inspiration to flow. I'll try to get it out as soon as possible.**


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